April 2012 Archives

I had never really stopped to focus on the science behind many of the successful advertisements for large companies. In the next 5 years I will remember our discussion on the study of behavior, stimuli and responses, and how advertisements become so effective.

Our discussion section looked at how the beer product associated with a beautiful woman creates arousal, which motivates people to buy the beer; not because they want to roll around in beer bottle caps, but because they want to experience the excitements and arousal that they associate with that product.

By using an image of an attractive woman with a "perfectly constructed" nose, people who looking for a way to adjust their physical appearance feel a drive and desire to look "more attractive" and will go out and use the plastic surgery service to achieve a happy response that they think will result in a higher self-esteem.
While not all ads use attractive men and women to create arousal or excitement in the people viewing these ads, the science behind advertisements' use of stimuli to result in conditioned and unconditioned responses is fairly basic and spans across most successful ads. I will remember our study of behavior 5 years from now because even if the sources and forms that ads come in will change, the science behind their images will not.
Click here for more interesting ads

As the semester comes to a close one lesson I can't seem to forget was our discussion of the principles of attraction, Similarity, Proximity, and Reciprocity. The debate surrounding how those principles affect our relationship choices is one I will ponder long and hard in the future. Why you ask? Because like most humans my relationships, romantic or otherwise, are the most central things in my life, and will continue to be of great if not greater importance in my future.

Though I fully expect my opinions on which principles have the greatest effect to change in the future, I shall outline how I feel now at the moment. In class we learned that similarity in terms of education level, values, interests etc. plays a very large role in who we like. I agree with this, especially on the values level, but also have had experience with the opposites attract theory, and do not think similar interests are essential. Reciprocity struck me as obvious, why waste your time with someone that does not return your interest? But what I found most interesting was the principle of proximity. Never before had I considered how my romantic relationships and major friendships had come from those seated near me in class or simply involved in multiple activities with me etc. As I move forward from this class and college itself I hope to test my current opinions and weigh them against my experiences to see how great of an effect these principles actually have. Five years from now I expect to be surprised at how they have effected my most lasting relationships.

Phineas Gage was a railroad foreman who survived a traumatic accident in 1848. He was filling holes with gunpowder when an explosion caused a tamping iron to shoot under his cheekbone, out through his skull. This accident destroyed a good majority of Gage's prefrontal cortex. It was incredible that he survived and was able to walk within minutes after the accident. After he found a doctor to treat his wounds, fungus began to form in his wound, which is why many expected him to die. Fortunately, he recovered within weeks and lived a normal life. It's often argued whether he was the same man as he was before. I can't see how it would be possible for him to live the same life he was living before the accident, considering the fact that the prefrontal cortex was damaged so severely. After all, it is the part of the brain that is responsible for a person's thinking, planning, and language.

This is a concept that I will be able to remember very well over the next five years. I believe this to be true because I am so amazed that anyone could survive such a terrible accident and still be able to live a "normal" life. Also, the picture of Gage's skull with the tamping iron sticking out of it is a nauseating visual that I don't think I'll be able to get out of my head. Nonetheless, I still find this story to be very intriguing and a great one to share with people who are unfamiliar with it.

For more information and details on the story click on this link below.
http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/the-incredible-case-of-phineas-gage/

Most parents strive to be the best parents, but they all have different ways of parenting. Based on Diana Baumrind's work, she described three major styles of parenting, permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative. Permissive parents are the nice parents. They give them considerable freedom, show a lot of affection towards their kids, and they rarely discipline their children. Authoritarian parents are the opposite of permissive parents. Authoritarian parents are strict, give their kids little freedom for play and exploration, show less affection, and they punish them when they do not respond appropriately to their demands. Lastly, authoritative parents are mixture of both permissive and authoritarian parents. They support their children, but also set clear boundaries. Baumrind found that children with authoritative parents have the best social and emotional adjustment and the lowest levels of behavior problems. I completely agree with her findings because I believe parents should allow their kids to have freedom and explore, while also setting boundaries from harmful things. I feel that by allowing your child to explore and have freedom, they will learn and develop skills that will benefit them in the future. These skills would include social, emotional, and interests. Freedom will also allow your child to pursue tasks and grow passionate about certain aspects of their life. Having passion is something that companies look for when they interview you. Also, I believe that setting boundaries on certain things is crucial to parenting. I believe that there are aspects of your children's life that needs strict boundaries at a certain age, and aspects where they should have fewer boundaries. I think that parents have to restrict inappropriate items, until their child is mature enough to handle it. An example would be restricting your kids from playing violent video games until they are at an age where they do not act everything they see, or until they are able to control their emotions (http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-03/health/healthmag.violent.video.kids_1_violent-video-video-games-game-genres?_s=PM:HEALTH). A lot of why I believe that authoritative parents develop the best kids is because my parents were the complete opposite. My parents were the definition of authoritarian parents, except they showed affection at times. They allowed me very little freedom until my senior year of high school. I was not allowed to hang out with friends more than once a week, they set strict times of when I have to do homework or study, and they grounded me for every little thing I did wrong. From these restrictions, I developed a more rebellious attitude towards my parents and I always wanted more freedom. So once I got freedom in college I had to learn how to manage my time, because I always want to do whatever I want since I wasn't allowed to for my whole life. I think that being too strict has no benefits, just disadvantages, because once a kid has freedom, they will just do whatever they were restricted from. I would like to know if having permissive parents can also develop rebellion in kids, because I think that it would be harder since they are more used to accepting authority and their parents. I find the topic of parenting styles very interesting and I have thought about it long before I took this class, because of my past experiences.

The area of psychology that I believe will prove to be most useful for me in my future is the effect of alcohol on the human brain and also the lasting implications that go along with alcoholism. After reading about the effects that alcohol has on the brain I have enough knowledge to make an informed decision on how much to drink or even whether to drink at all. Some of the immediate effects of alcohol on the brain are sleepiness, slower thinking, and impaired concentration. Knowing that these effects will result from drinking alcohol will help me to judge whether a certain time or place is appropriate to drink.
Also knowing that alcoholism has many negative long-term effects will further prepare me to good decisions with regards to alcohol. One of the serious long-term effects of alcohol is liver cirrhosis of the liver. In conclusion I believe that the knowledge that I have gained on the short and long-term effects alcohol has on the brain will ultimately prove to be very valuable in my future when deciding whether or not to drink.
If this topic interests you than I suggest that you read this and this

In five years I think what I will remember most about our psychology class will be bulimia and anorexia. Although we can say that society is starting to realize that models and actresses who are tiny are not healthy, I believe that the societal norm will be pressurized towards being skinny. Young girls are going to try to be skinny in any which way as well. Even in five years girls and boys will struggle with weight and in trying to be perfect to stick with what beauty is as viewed in society. Anorexia and bulimia are sever illnesses and even though we do have a lot in the world explaining the dangers, unless there is a view saying that "normal" women and men are beautiful, there will always be young children trying to become beautiful by starving and hurting themselves. I believe that society will still be thinking the exact same as it does today in regards to beauty and how models have to be a size 0. It definitely is not at all healthy and is taking a toll on millions of girls and boys all over the world.

One thing that I'll remember from this psychology course is how to better handle and acknowledge stress. Stress itself is hard to define, but it is typically used describes a negative concept that can have an impact on one's mental and physical well-being. As we all know college, and life in general, can create a great amount of stress that we need to properly manage in order to reach our full potential. This course taught me that stress can have lasting negative effects on both our physical and mental health.Some people turn to behaviors such as smoking, drinking too much, and over/under eating. These behaviors can obviously also be detrimental to health and put you at risks for diseases.Stress increases our risk for things such as cardiovascular disease, which still ranks as the number one killer in the United States.

I learned that much of our stress can be reduced through coping methods and with practice we can even learn to predict and prevent some stress. One method I use to deal with my stress is through exercise. Stress is always going to be around us, so the sooner we can learn to properly manage our stress levels the better. To learn more about healthy ways of coping with stress click here

Many find psychology interesting because it's just like a quiz in a girlie magazine. Lots of people love talking about themselves, and we also find it interesting to learn about ourselves. Psychology 1001 has been one of those classes that I have brought up very often in my daily conversations throughout the semester. The last thing I remember saying was when I told my best friend that you don't sleep as well when you're drunk. I also brought up correlation vs. causation when my mom told me that weed makes you late. I don't think she quite understood the concept. I just spoke with some women on the bus today about language and told them that the American school system is terrible with language because the best time to learn a language if you want to speak it like a native is before age 7. Beyond the random facts, the idea that most psychology questions don't have a yes or no answer has really translated into other areas of my life. Mainly in the book's section about development, I have learned that the baby's behavior affects the parents' behavior, and the parents' behavior affects the baby's behavior, and most social problems don't have one cause.

From all of the topics I learned in Psychology this year, the topic I will remember five years from now is the sleep and the sleep cycles. In college sleep is one of the most important things for the body, and learning about it has helped me become much more understanding of the topic. After a night of eight or more hours of sleep, your body is able to perform and process information at much higher rates. Without the eight hours of required sleep needed, your judgment, mood, and your ability to learn is hurt. I have personal experience with this through the first year of college coming to a close. If I do not get the certain amount of sleep, my work ethic is nothing near what it is if I get an adequate amount of sleep. I will always remember to get the correct amount of REM sleep so I can be productive the following day. Overall, it is important for everyone to keep in mind the correct amount of sleep needed for them to be productive and successful. If you would like to learn more about the sleep cycles and why sleep is so essential to us click here.

I found conditioning, both classical and operant, to be one of the most interesting and useful topics covered in this course. Pavlov used dogs, meat powder, and a metronome to prove that a previously neutral stimulus can be paired with another stimulus to elicit an automatic response. Known as classical conditioning, this idea has been seized by advertisers, who have found that by pairing their product with enjoyable stimuli, such as attractive men and women, they can increase desire for their product. Operant conditioning refers to learning controlled by consequences of the organism's behavior. B.F. Skinner proved it with rats where he used what came to be known as the Skinner box, but operant conditioning runs much deeper than this. Through the use of punishment and reinforcement behaviors of animals and humans alike can be controlled. Operant conditioning is the basis for our our prison system (punishment) and job salaries (reinforcement), especially those that are incentive based. Conditioning is constantly occurring, but often goes unnoticed. For example, simply being told "good job" is operant conditioning in progress. And as the following clip from The Office shows maybe humans are as susceptible to classical conditioning as Pavlov's dogs are.

Jim Trains Dwight

A few days ago, my parents and I began discussing the latest episode of "The Celebrity Apprentice", a reality show that features two teams of celebrities competing in business related tasks in order to raise money for charity. As with any reality television show, most of the entertainment comes from contestants clashing with each other for any number of reasons. Every one of the contestants take a different approach in how they deal with people, some act loud and controlling in order to get their point across while others play it low, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

Continuing with the story, my parents and I were talking about one contestant in particular, Aubrey O'Day, someone known on the show as being very controlling and a "shady" player in general. Both of my parents commented that they think she is a sociopath due to her behavior on the show and that she probably acts that way due to a traumatic experience she had in the past. While I do agree that she acts very cut-throat on the show I reminded them of one of the most important things I've learned in psychology, there's never a one reason explanation to something. Firstly, I'm not sure if someone could become a sociopath through one traumatic experience alone. Secondly, there are a number of alternative explanations that could explain her behavior such as the idea that she only acts this way on the show because she is trying to win, she might be in an unfamiliar setting and doesn't know how to react, etc. I think everyone should try to consider issues from multiple points of view and not fall prey to simplistic explanations for human behavior.

If you'd like to find out more about "The Apprentice", visit www.nbc.com/the-apprentice/

Many interesting concepts were discussed in Psychology 1001 this semester. Among them, I think the concept of parenting style is what I will remember the most five years from now because at that time, I might be a parent also!
To recall what we have learned...
There were three parenting styles permissive, authoritarian and authoritative. Permissive parents tend to be lenient with their children and authoritarian parents tend to be strict with their children. Authoritative parents combine the features of both permissive and authoritarian parents.
I guess that like many people say, authoritative which is the combination of permissive and authoritarian will be the best way to raise a child. I believe that when the parents are too nice to their children and allow their children do whatever they want, children will more likely to lack self-discipline and be self-involved and demanding. When the parents are too strict to their children, the children will probably have lower self-esteem and show more aggressive behavior (learned from their parents). So balancing the two parenting style would be the best way to raise children.
Even though I will probably remember that balancing the two parenting style is the best, it will not be easy to really balance the two parenting style. I wish I can practice being a parent before I really become a parent...

As I thought back on all we had learned throughout the semester I kept catching myself being concerned with the studies done to test nature vs. nurture. Certain researchers would separate identical twins at birth and study their behaviors identifying which case held true. A specific case looks at Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein who were unaware of the fact that they had a twin until they were in their mid thirties. They were a part of a secret research study unbeknownst to both women.

I find it very disturbing that these two women were unaware of the fact that they had not only a sibling out there but a twin. I know a twins bond is very strong because I have identical twins for sisters. They have always been very close and I know that without one another they would be lost. It was said in the article that this type of research would never be allowed in this day and age which is comforting to a degree. Overall I feel horribly for whoever was put through this type of study as it would have huge life changing outcomes.

Throughout the semester, we have had our ears filled with information on the broad field of psychology. Though all the information was interesting in its own specific way, I was intrigued by a simple concept that psychologists have developed on memory. I found it astonishing that our memory has its own pecking order. Basically our brain determines what is most important in our lives and tends to remember those events more vividly than others. I see it as our brain being a filing cabinet with only so much space. As we age, the amount capacity of our cabinet grows and we are able to access more information. However, as we grow old, our brain tends to filter the information that is most important and hold onto it. Since we cannot hold all the information we have absorbed at one time, our brain filters the information and gets rid of the facts that appear to be useless. To me, this process is astonishing. This information will undoubtedly not be erased from my memory within the next 5 years.

In a class as informative as psych 1001, it can be difficult to filter and comprehend the amount of information being taught, but even more difficult of an endeavor is remembering the knowledge one has accumulated. But from this individual's perspective, perhaps the most vital and memorable piece of information to take away from such a course comes in the form of Pavlov's classical conditioning, the form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response. Out of all the forms of conditioning, the one that vehemently resonated with me, personally, came from Pavlovian conditioning- whether from unconditioned stimuli, which elicits an automatic response-or a conditioned stimulus, which is the initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response due to association with an unconditioned stimulus. The importance from all this knowledge comes from the ability to habitually learn, or in some cases, train someone to consistently do something, which can be a powerful tool. Although Pavlov conducted the conditioning on animals of lesser intellect, this process can be used on humans of all ages. And from my personal vantage point, it's an extremely useful procedure that can change the learning habits of even the most sophisticated humans. Whether you choose to take it or leave, there is no avoiding the value in Pavlov's classical conditioning, something that can resonate in the memories of students for years.

It is always hard to think where we will be in five years. Many things will change, from medicine to pop-culture. In five years I hope to be married to my fella and raising kids of my own, teaching them all sorts of things I have learned. When I look back on Psychology 1001 I will remember the "Rules of Attraction" including proximity , reciprocity, and similarity.
Although we may not realize it we were shown these ideas when we were little through Disney movies including The Lion King, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, and The Aristocats. In each of the films the lead male character and the lead female character fall in love from being with one another for extended periods of time (proximity). They also find that they have more in common than first assumed (similarity) and do give compliments, words of encouragement and support throughout the films (reciprocity). Considering we have been exposed to these "Rules of Attraction" since we were little I believe it is safe to say that these will stick with me.
Just as I was exposed to these ideas I will expose my children to them. Not only are they great films but they carry ideas you can apply to your own life. I hope that my children will use these "rules" to find an excellent partner in their life time.

I have learned many different concepts from PSY 1001 class. However, the most significant concept is physical attraction because it relates to my current situation. According to the Attraction and Relationships article, there are different social attitudes such as, proximity, similarity, and physical attraction. I believe proximity is the most important factor in keeping a relationship prosperous. Currently, I am in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend. My girlfriend and I have known each other for four months, and have started a long distance relationship. Due to our academic studies abroad, we cannot see each other; therefore we use Skype and Facetime to keep in touch. Because of the 13-hour time difference, it is difficult to meet. For example, she would prepare for school while I prepare for bed.

According to the article, proximity causes attraction. Proximity portrays a type of connection between people but it also connects with the concept of the "Pavlovian" condition. As my opportunity to meet my girlfriend decreases, I would lose my interest with her, and in worse case, our relationship would cease to exist. Although meeting during the night or the early morning, there is too much of a gap in our relationship. Rather than having a relationship through cyberspace, I would wish for more of a physical relationship with her. Since it is not possible right now, my loneliness would only increase as the days goes by. Although, I really love my girlfriend, but if I knew about this concept before we started the relationship, I would not have started anything. In conclusion, this article has shown me attitudes toward having a real relationship and how it can be affected by the physical connection, we would call, "proximity". To read the article, Click here

As I pondered, "what will I remember from this class in 5 years" the only answer that came to mind is what will I not remember? The small details and facts memorized for a test may not make it to my long term memory, but the large concepts are lodged in there. So much of this class is applicable to daily life, and many times while reading I would have an Oprah "ah hah" moment.
For my thesis work, I am taking Abnormal Psych next semester, so in having to choose one thing I will remember from this class, it would be the information on disorders, from the physical reasons (genes, neuron transmitters) to the disorder descriptons and videos showing the disorder within people.
My thesis work is on the mentally ill population and the lack of affordable housing. The homeless population grows in the United States, and mentally ill individuals make up a large part of it. I volunteered at a phone crisis center, which is where I first listened to the issues the mentally ill have in obtaining and keeping housing. There have been strides made in the last ten years, but affordable, safe housing continues to be an issue. If a person doesn't have a safe base, it is hard to ascend Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If one doesn't know where they will sleep that night, how can they stay on a health regimen of taking medication and feeling a sense of stability? An article that highlights the difference a stable home can make to a mentally ill person is one by Padget that I have attached. The qualitative study allows the mentally ill person's voice to be heard, and share what having a secure home means to them, They are a vulnerable population with little voice in politics, yet are directly affected by the policies and budget cuts made in affordable housing and health care.

Out of all of the topics that were taught in Psychology 1001, I think I will remember Francis Galton's topic of Nature vs. Nurture the most. This topic can be applied to many different situations and debates, like the Psychology 1001 textbook has shown us, which is why it will be very useful and memorable five years from now.

The Nature vs. Nurture debate is one that will never be given a definite right and wrong answer. Humans have been debating over this for years, and will continue to do so well into the future. The debate focuses on whether the contributions of genetic inheritance or the environmental factors a person experiences will have a greater impact on human development. Many well-known philosophers, such as Plato and Descartes, suggested that certain things are inborn and will be acquired regardless of environmental influences. Other well-known thinkers, such as John Locke believe that the mind begins as a blank slate, or tabula rasa. According to this belief, everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experiences and the environmental influences in our lives. A great example of the Nature vs. Nurture debate that was illustrated in our textbook and is extremely fascinating to me is how monozygotic reared together twins, monozygotic reared apart twins, dizygotic twins reared together and dizygotic twins reared apart compared in terms of intelligence. No matter which side of the argument a person is on, they will have an opinion about which one has a greater impact on a human, nature or nurture. For more information on the Nature vs. Nurture twin/adoption intelligence studies, visit this link.

For this blog, I immediately thought of a couple concepts that we were taught about learning, which I know will help me in the years to come. For almost every college student, one of the biggest struggles for doing well academically is figuring out how you learn best. For me, during my freshman year I always went with the "I'll pull an all-nighter the day before and be fine for the test," philosophy. As I have learned, that is a really bad philosophy to go with for your classes. In this course we learned the power of massed distribution when studying, along with learning aids that help us remember information. These things are essential for college students to know because it only helps you succeed and really understand the information you learn so that it will be worked into your long-term memory. As I have incorporated better study habits and have used the things I've learned through this course, I have seen much better results when it comes to taking tests. Also, being able to get a good nights rest before exams really helps your anxiety during the test to keep yourself calm and assured that you know the information, and just have to prove it through taking the test. I know that these strategies will really help me throughout the rest of my college experience and also when I get my job after college.

The study of human psychology has greatly impacted my life at times. One particular instance involved one of my uncles at a family gathering. I think most people can relate to having an uncle or two in their family that designate themselves as the "funny uncle", and usually you'll find them tickling and joking their way through the house on holidays. But making jokes at the expense of others sometimes runs the risk of offending. One particular time that my knowledge of psychology helped me was a time that my uncle was poking fun at my then-new diet (of only plants). He was giving me trouble about it around the family dinner table. Eventually he asked me why I didn't feel bad for murdering all those plants. When I started to explain that trees don't suffer the same way that dogs, pigs, cats, cows, and chickens do, and that eating them actually kills more plants than just eating plants because of how much we have to feed them, he instantly interrupted me. He enjoyed mocking me, but never opened himself for an actual answer. Earlier in my life, I might have been very angry with him. But after what I've learned about human psychology, I took a more complete look at him, his history and his current situation, and I remembered that he was in the middle of a terrible, ugly divorce likely to be very depressed. I decided to not make a scene, as I have flaws of my own and would appreciate being treated kindly if I was in a similar situation, and over time I've come to realize that this was a much better decision for me in the long run. The nicer I am to my family, the more they like having me around and cooking food for me. Remembering that everyone has a complex psychological story helps me pick the right battles and avoid the wrong ones. Things can escalate quickly, and may lead to unwanted and unhelpful fights.

One of the concepts I will remember the most from Intro to Psychology is operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a form of learning that is controlled by the consequences of the organism's behavior. These consequences consist of either reinforcement or punishment. Reinforcement increases the target behavior, while punishment decreases the target behavior. On top of this, reinforcement and punishment can be either positive or negative. Positive refers to adding a stimulus, while negative refers to removing a stimulus.

I was intrigued by operant conditioning because of its strong influence on animal training. As an owner of two dogs, I was curious about finding ways to better train my dogs. I learned that positive reinforcement is the best methodology. The basic premise of positive reinforcement is: dog performs behavior and as a result, dog gets rewarded. When training a dog a new trick, you should reward him every time he performs the behavior. After the desired behavior is consistently occurring, you should decrease the payment of the behavior, only focusing on the dog's best behavior. Once the behavior is learned, you should reward your dog intermittently. Your dog won't know for sure when he'll get a reward so he's going to offer his best effort all the time. Once you understand the basics of operant conditioning, the better you can train your pet. For more information about dog training using operant conditioning, visit this website.

There were many interesting and useful concepts taught in this psychology class. I feel like the most important and most useful chapter in the book was the chapter on memory. You can use the information from that chapter for the rest of your life and it can really help you out.

The human mind is extremely fascinating to me, especially how memory works. You can remember some things from years ago that aren't even significant but when it comes to taking a test, you can have a hard time trying to remember what you just studied. In this chapter, it talked about how studying information in small increments over time is much more effective than studying in large increments over a small amount of time. This can be very useful in school as well as in your job. If your cram for a test, you may remember it for a little while, but it is unlikely that much of that will get stored into your long term memory. If you are trying to learn things that will be useful for your job or for later in life, it is much more effective to study that information in small increments over a period of time. Learning about how memory works is a very useful topic that can help you for the rest of your life.

Here is a link where you can find other useful tips for improving your memory.
Article 1

I spent last semester studying abroad in Barcelona, and one thing that really normalized with me was bilingualism. I find it so strange and ridiculous that the majority of Americans only speak one language. In Barcelona, everyone spoke at least two languages fluently and was proficient in English.

The one concept that will stick with me (although I don't doubt quite a few others will) is bilingualism, and language in general. Seeing the video in lecture that demonstrated the ability for children to retain their universal adaptability by playing with someone who spoke in another language to them once (or was it twice?) a week, shows how easy it is for a child to be bilingual if they start early, and the book didn't even get into all of the benefits of being bilingual!

The case of Genie, which demonstrates language deprivation, I will never forget mainly because of how grim of a story it is, but also because exemplifies the importance of caring, nurturing, and interacting with a child.

Finally, the resilience of language, best demonstrated through the sign languages created in deprived areas such as Africa, is something that amazes me, and will always remain in the back of my mind.

Despite the fact that having a family is something far in the future for me, a lot of things that I learned from this psych class (especially bilingualism and language because I highly value language and communication) will stay with me as I consider how I want to raise my kids, and how go about ensuring they get all of their needs met.

Out of the many fascinating topics we discussed in psychology this year, one topic struck me to be the most interesting. That is the idea of faceblindness or prosopagnosia, which is a disorder that around 2% of the worlds population suffer from. Prosopagnosia, for me, is a disorder that is difficult to wrap my head around. It is hard to image that there are some people who cannot tell the difference between the faces of their friends, family or even themselves. These people most definitely feel isolated from social situations, which would be simply devastating. Basically to break it down, face perception is a process where the brain and mind understand and can then interpret a face. People who have damaged their inferotemporal cortex, tend to have difficulty recognizing faces. These people cannot recognize human faces, but can recognize patterns and physical characteristics such as the color of a person's hair. I know that this topic will stay with me for life because I am currently starting a Prosopagnosia Awareness group for students on campus. The more information we can learn about this disorder, the closer we can get to helping those suffering from face blindness. For more information or general knowledge, check out FaceBlind.

One topic of Psychology 1001 that I will remember most clearly five years from now is the portion about the formation of relationships, and how relationships between people last. It was interesting to me the three concepts of proximity, similarity, and reciprocity. Now that I have learned that these three elements are the main importances of building and keeping a relationship, it seems obvious. Proximity is the physical closeness that allows for people to meet and find interest, while similarity is the aspect that helps to maintain and grow a relationship. Reciprocity is the part that pushes a relationship deeper by building trust and intimacy between the two people.

This concept of psychology was intriguing to learn about because it is relevant to our lives as young adults and as college students. I feel as though this concept will continue to be important in my life in the next five or ten years as I graduate college and look to begin the next chapter of my life.

While many of the psychology topics were very interesting and relevant to my life such as the portions on sleep, stress, consciousness, and learning, this small concept on maintaining relationships stood out the most when looking back. Perhaps because meeting new people and building up these relationships has been such a significant part of being a freshman in college this past year. I look to the past with relevance to my newfound knowledge on relationship formation, as well as the future when meeting people will continue with equal if not more importance in my life.

Five years from now, I will remember the concepts of Freud and psychoanalysis. Since Sigmund Freud first developed his theories in the early 20th century, his ideas are still seen as out of the ordinary today, which makes them so memorable. Freud's odd fascination with the unconscious desires of humans made him become one of the most influential men in psychology of all time.
According to psychic determinism, all our psychological events are caused by a deeper meaning within ourselves. Other key characteristics of psychoanalysis like symbolic meaning and unconscious motivation also try to explain our actions and thoughts as results of an inner conflict of which we are unaware of. The most controversial aspect of Freud's theory is his model of psychosexual development. This model demonstrates the stages of growth of children by achieving sexual pleasure through different sources at different ages. Through all these radical concepts, Freud was able to shake up all aspects of psychology and open doors to the study of the unconscious human mind. However, as a college student, these kinds of ideas are what stick out to me and is why I will remember Freud's theories in five years. Out of the ordinary lessons like these make psychology interesting and fun to learn. For more in-depth information about pyschoanalysis, try this interesting site.

As college students, we are going to get married in five years. Consequently, I would not forget three major principles that guide attraction and relationship formation: similarity, reciprocity, and proximity.
Similarity means we are attracted to people who are similar to us. Thus when we begin relationship with other, it is important to find similarities and common between two. More they have similarities, better their attraction would be.
Second principle is reciprocity, which is the rule of give and take. When we get something from one, it is important to give back something that has similar worth in order to maintain equity in a relationship.

The last but not least principle is proximity. Proximity means we are most likely to be attracted to and befriend people nearby, who we see on a regular basis. Therefore it is important to keep one's lover near.
By remembering these three major principles, I would be able to attract my future wife relatively easily!

There were a lot of useful psychology concepts that were taught in the introductory psychology course such as language and behavior developments as well as intelligence and emotions. One of the most useful concepts that I would remember even five or ten years later was the effects of emotions to formation of memory.
Many researches provide the evidence that people tend to remember events better when the events were related to emotions (caused emotional changes). For example, people tend to remember scary and sad moments better compared to the fact-based knowledge indicating that the emotion related moments would stay longer in our memory.

With this knowledge people can remember what they learn more effectively by manipulating their emotions. Moreover, people can forget what they don't want to remember by isolating the emotions. This also applies to the relationship in which a person is more likely to forget his/her boyfriend or girlfriend when the person did not have much emotions attached.

Psychology is becoming more useful in everyday life; therefore, it would be appropriate to learn psychology to improve our lives. There are also more useful psychology concepts that could improve our lives.

In this semester I have learned a lot from the introduction to psychology course. One thing I found extremely interesting and surprised me a lot is the social influences on conformity. People tend to alter their behavior as a result of group pressure. We all know that sometimes we go alone with one of the group's ideas even though we know that it is not right because we just don't want to be different from the entire group of people. I have gone through the same situation and after I learnt the Asch studies and social influences on conformity in class, I can explain this behavior.

In the Asch Study, each participant, in turn, was asked to answer a series of questions, such as which line was longest or which matched the reference line. The participants gave a variety of answers. At first all answers were correct. But then with some incorrect responses added, it allowed us to determine how the answers of the subject would change with the added influence of peer pressure. Surprisingly, the Asch Experiment results were interesting and showed that peer pressure could have a large influence on the answers given. 75 percent of participants conform to the incorrect answers and they reported being confused and even distressed because they experienced a conflict between their own believes and others' perceptions.

From the Asch Study, we can see that conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. Hence, it is obvious that when we are in a group, we all conform to social pressure and social influence from time to time. Even though we have right ideas in our mind, we may be afraid to say out loud when they seems to be so different.

Here is a fun video about conformity on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrso8I

The Theory of Multiple Intelligence was first proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983, defined as entirely different domains of intellectual skill. Gardner proposed the Theory of Multiple Intelligence as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various and specific (primarily sensory) modalities, rather than seeing it as a single, general ability. For example, one might be evaluated in mathematical, musical, literacy, etc. I'd like to take this theory and dig into it a little further.The Social Comparison Theory was first coined by Leon Festinger in 1954 which states that there is a drive in individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. As humans we evaluate our abilities and intelligence by comparing them to others in society which for us, may be our collegiate peers and colleagues. We strive for this comparison in effort to evaluate our success in a certain area or subject which in turn, builds our self identification and confidence. I would like to synthesize these two theories and create a new system of evaluating intelligence and ability. In doing so, one might be scored on a scale of 1-10 in each area of intelligence mentioned before, mathematical thinking, musical ability, athleticism, literacy etc. A professional athlete might score a 10 in athletic ability while scoring lower, 2-4 on a mathematical and literacy evaluation. As that may be true, a professional musician might score high on musical ability and lower on areas of physical and athletic ability. With a combined score of all categories, we could relate it to the Social Comparison and Multiple Intelligence theories, obtaining an accurate evaluation of our intelligence, ability, and where we fit in society on all-around success and accomplishment. For more information on the Multiple Intelligence Theory visit this website by PBS.

The concept that I still cannot seem to get my head around is the control the unconscious mind has over us. Even when we truly believe that we are consciously making decisions, we are not. A recent PSY 1001 student blog post "Wait, I Thought What" highlights this phenomenon. In the blog the student discusses taking a test regarding laundry soap. She specifically chose answers that were unfavorable, as she had an unfavorable rapport with the laundry soup. However, the results showed that the student "showed little or no opinion" towards the laundry soap (http://blog.lib.umn.edu/meyer769/psy_1001/2012/04/wait-i-thought-that.html#comment-16552222).

How does this happen? I have always believed in the controlling of thoughts, decisions, and mentality in order to obtain a productive and mentally healthy life. While this concept could still hold true in some situations, the fact is our minds control us. Although it makes complete sense, to think about it and give acknowledgment to the rank of biology over individuality it is bit disturbing to me. If we're not fully aware of why we are making certain decisions, how are we supposed to improve certain aspects of our well being? How does our unconscious mind make decisions? What influences the unconscious and how can you alter its influences? Also, does the unconscious affect the nature verses nurture debate?

For years to come I will be wondering what led me to make certain decisions, and which I made without awareness. It's just an odd reality that I may never get used to.

Every day we make important choices. The real question is: who is really behind those choices? By far the most shocking thing I have learned this semester was that we may not really be in control of our actions, choices, selves. Many people appreciate the idea that we all have free will, we do what we think we want, when we want, and our thoughts control our behavior. During Professor Gail Peterson's lecture on consciousness, however, I learned that this may not be the case. "People can make complex choices without being consciously aware of the causes of their choices (or even of what they have chosen!)." "Our conscious awareness, while real, may not be as fundamental to our behavior as it seems to be. In fact, it may be more a product of what we do than a cause."
I used to be convinced that I could always explain the reasons for my behavior, however after the consciousness lecture, I have been constantly second-guessing the reasons for my actions and choices. I wonder why I do what I do. Are the thoughts I'm having about specific decisions a product of a choice my brain made a while ago? How can I have free will if my decisions are merely an unconscious function of my brain? The consciousness lecture brought all these questions to the surface, and I can't stop ruminating on the implications of these suggestions.
This lecture is certainly going to keep me on my toes for the next five years, definitely.

Long term potentiation is defined as the gradual strengthening of the connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation. This is apparent in many sports as well as activities we partake in every day life. In sports, you might practice the basics, for example, practicing something as simple as dribbling a soccer ball every day. The more you touch the ball, the more comfortable you will become with control and possession of the ball. As you continue and evolve as a soccer player, you are able to take your eye off the ball while controlling and dribbling, which allows more opportunity to keep your head up and look for an open player to pass to. This is because you are strengthening the connection between synapses and neurons in the brain, which in turn strengthens muscle memory and movement with the soccer ball. I also play trumpet and in practicing, one might spend an hour on 10 measures of technically difficult repertoire. In doing so, we strengthen the memory and coordination of our lips, fingers and tongue, making the technically difficult passage second nature and a piece of cake. There have been experiments done on lab rats which sends impulses through the neurons, strengthening the connection between synapses and in turn, faster learning and muscle memory. While the experiment proved to be very effective, it unfortunately caused extreme pain to the lab rats and would be unethical to perform on humans. Research continues to analyze this phenomenon and find new ways to increase long-term potentiation. For more information on long-term potentiation and this topic, check out this video.

A very interesting concept, the bystander effect, is a concept I will definitely remember 5 years from now. It is the idea that the greater number of people present, the less likely people will be willing to help someone in distress. People feel that they are less responsible to help someone because there are many others who will lend a helping hand. When everyone in a situation has this mindset, unfortunate things can happen.

The information on the bystander effect has made me become more aware of my surroundings. Living in a big city, it would be very easy for the bystander effect to occur. Because I have knowledge about the possibility of it occurring, it will make me more willing to ask someone in distress if they need help. I do not want people being hurt just because I didn't want to lend a hand.

Being aware of the bystander effect has also made me research more on how to reduce it. In order to reduce the bystander effect, the bystander needs to think that the victim is dependent on them. If the victim personally calls out someone walking by, they are going to feel more responsible, and will be more willing to help. It also helps when witnesses have knowledge of the bystander effect. If more people learned about it, many more people would be saved from harmful situations.

Visit here to learn more about the bystander effect and how to reduce it.

Struggled with academics, I was a normal student until I figured out the application of time-management. In college, with the help of the Psychology 1001 course, I am able to improve my academic performance by applying the encoding skills in chapter 7 for memorizing information in other classes. Thus, this knowledge will stay in my head at least more than five years from now on for the reason.

The first type of skills is "Mnemonics", a learning aid, strategy or device that enhances recall. Basically, the idea of this skill is the associations between easy-to-remember constructs which can be related back to the data that are to be remembered. The common type of mnemonic is "first letter mnemonics" in which an easily remembered acronym, or phrase with an acronym is associated with the list items. For example, one is "HOMES" to help people remember the names of all of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior). This skill enhances my ability to memorize a list of a topic in a faster way. See more information

Another type is "Keyword method" in which an English word reminds an individual of the word an individual is trying to remember. This skill works well in the learning of second language; for example, a Spanish word, Casa, meaning "house" can be easily memorized with thinking of an English word, "Case" in the "house".

Again, a proper application of these skills in learning will help people to reduce the stress for finals

I have learned a lot of good information this semester about psychology and why we do the things that we do as humans. The most interesting though, in my mind, was about drugs and consciousness. I have always been a person to judge those who use and abuse drugs, but this subject matter has helped to open my mind and expand my knowledge on why people become addicted and dependent on drugs. After reading about physical dependence and psychological dependence in chapter five I started to really understand what happened in the minds of individuals with substance abuse. Table 5.4 in our book further described to me that a maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, needs to be manifested by at least three of the following (in the same 12-month period):

1. Tolerance
2. Withdrawal
3. Substance is taken in larger amounts
4. Persistent desire to cut down use
5. Time spent on activities necessary to obtain the substance
6. Social life impaired in some way
7. Substance use is continued despite knowledge of having an issue

After reading through this, I discovered that I have been naive in understanding why people are addicted to drugs and other things that are a threat to their bodies.

This intro to psychology course has taught me a wide range of things. Some of the things I've learned have seemed like common sense, while others have really surprised me to be true. The one thing that I will remember five years from now is what helps me understand how some of the seemingly wrong things are true, the Six Principles of Critical Thinking.

So maybe I cheated a little and picked six things instead of one, but I think the principles are always something I'll have in the back of my mind when analyzing something new. The reason I'll remember these principles for so long is probably because they've been pounded in my head all throughout the course. I think they've been repeated so many times for good reason, though, for they really help to overcome possible biases when deciding what you think about a new subject. I've frequently found myself referring back to Occam's Razor when debating with people, and I am now much more skeptical towards things with extraordinary claims without extraordinary evidence. Basically, I think the principles are important because they can be put to use in almost any situation in life. Five years from now, I might not be able to impress a date by explaining the processes of each part of the brain, but at least I will be able to properly evaluate everything she, or anyone else, tells me.

Something that I found extremely interesting and what is very prevalent in today's world is social conformity. Conformity is changing one's behavior as a result of group pressure. This occurs in people of all ages throughout the world.

Solomon Asch's study on conformity in the 1950s produced some shocking results. As seen in the picture, participants were presented with the original line and asked to match it with the correct corresponding line (A, B, or C). About 4 confederates would intentionally answer incorrectly. The participant would then be asked to give his answer. Surprisingly across the 12 trials performed, participants conformed to the wrong answer 37% of the time.

For me, and I'm sure almost all of you reading this, it seems obvious that "A" is the correct answer in the picture. We may feel that we would indeed answer "A" if presented with this task, but is this really the case? Group conformity is a truly powerful thing. It's power seems to come from the biological need for humans to belong. It is shocking what some people are willing to do in order to become part of and stay within a group to fulfill their biological desires. Studying this topic has really given me new perspective on my life and the choices I make among friends. As our friends may be saying "B" or "C", will we have the personal willpower to resist social conformity and confidently say "A"?

Five years from now I will remember learning about the psychological explanation of attraction. One of the biggest things that stuck out to me was the influence of factors such as proximity, similarity, reciprocity, and physical attraction on what makes one be attracted to another. The activity we played in our discussion showed the influence of these factors on attraction perfectly. We were all given a card from a deck of cards that was only to be seen by the other people in the room. The higher numbered cards were to be considered the most attractive while the lower cards were to be seen as less attractive. We were all given about 5 minutes to go about the room and find a mate. Because you did not know your own card, and therefore did not know where you would stand relative to others in attractiveness, you learned the importance of reciprocity. The importance of proximity was also demonstrated when people in the activity rarely ventured away from their original table and found mates who sat near them. It was also found that those who had similar "attractiveness" mated together. This activity is definitely something that will stick with me these next five years!

I found the Stress section of the Psychology class (Chapter 12: Stress, Coping, and Health) most interesting and relateable because stress is something that almost every one of us has encountered at some point in our lives. To put it in more scientific terms, our Psychology textbooks define stress as the tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a situation, called a stressor - a type of stimulus - strains our ability to cope effectively. Some have experienced stress more often, and some have experienced stress in heavier doses. And although psychologists find it hard to measure stress, they were able to create the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) that includes forty three events thought to be the most stressful. To figure out your "SRRS stress score", go to this website.
I was easily able to relate to some of the stressful events on the SRRS list, such as losing a close friend, having a change in sleeping and eating habits, and obtaining a personal injury/illness. However, in my opinion I do not think that stressful events can ever be measured in value because everyone has different reactions to certain stressors. Upon losing a close friend in a car accident last summer, there were many of my friends who became so stressed that they had to seek professional help. While at the same time, others were able to cope with this death on their own. Some explanations for the different reactions to any stressful event in general include: goals, personality, values, and coping strategies.

Although it is hard to measure stress, stress is still inevitable for me. And with final exams coming up, most of us are starting to feel the stress and pressure of it all. However I am sure that all of us are determined to keep our stress levels to a minimum during this last week. So, to get helpful tips on how to effectively cope with exam stress that you may have, read this article.

The fundamental attribution error. We all fall victim to its engrossing and sly ways at some point or another.

Last week I was in a store looking for a new swimsuit when a lady and her two kids hustled by me doing the same. For the next 5 minutes I listened to the lady berate her kids for the most insignificant mistakes I had ever seen. It first started with one of the kids dropping the mom's wallet he was carrying for her. She turned around, face beet red, and said if you drop that thing one more time I'm returning all of your birthday presents. Several adjectives popped into my mind to describe this lady that I can't exactly repeat on a school assignment. I ended up walking by the same lady nearly an hour later in the mall and I heard her talking about "signing the papers," her eyes glazed with tears. She was getting a divorce. I had mistaken this poor woman's actions by her personality instead of wondering what situation may have been causing her to act out- the fundamental attribution error.

What does "Think scientifically" mean? To answer that, first we have ask ourselves: "What is Science?" Science to the general public, are often seen as the combined name for three subjects: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. It's not hard to see why, because these topics are taught in school as science classes. However, Science goes far beyond these three topics, and science is everywhere. According to Wikipedia, "Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe." If one read this definition carefully, one could note that not all knowledge can be scientific, and yet science provides the most valid and reliable knowledge one can obtain. If science is this "systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe." then science should apply in every aspect of our lives, and it does.(see picture)
Science is the way to understand our universe based on evidence, tests, and rational reasoning. To think scientifically means to follow the scientific thinking principles such as: "Ruling out rival hypothesis", "Correlation vs. Causation", "Falsifiability", "Replicability", "Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence", and "Occam's Razor". Of course you all have heard of those, I assume. Unless you really hasn't study for this class at all. (HA! HA! Bless the curve! Wait there isn't a curve?!) Now how many of you have thought about applying those principle outside of when taking PSY101 tests? My guess is, not many of you do, certainly I don't, at least not all the time. Why should we think scientifically? We should because it separates us from ignorance. Next time when you hear a claim, you should ask for the evidence before you believe it. When you see an apple fell far from the tree, maybe you should pick the simplest explanation such as a person passed by and moved the apple, rather than believing an invisible being placed it there just to show you a sign that you should not follow your father's footstep. It also helps you to avoid making misjudgement about a race group based on the data of the percentage of criminals of that race compared to other race in a city, because there are a lot more variables go into it.(correlation vs. causation). In general, think scientifically makes you to reason rationally, it sets your mind free. Maybe you would find science much more interesting since the "known" in your old thinking became "unknown", so you feel the need to discover the unknown world, to obtain new knowledge. Once you became more knowledgeable, you gain the obligation to educate the ignorants(ignoramus? not sure which word to use :P ). And this is how humanity improve! Thank you for your time! Until next time! Good Night!

Imagine you're in a room with a lie deception expert, and you have to lie to him about why your friend didn't come home last night. Do you think you could fool him? I will remember Paul Ekman's research on illustrators and manipulators for at least the next five years. Ekman once said, "Gestures come in a seemingly endless variety of forms." There are certain ways to tell if someone is lying. Illustrators are gestures that highlight or accentuate speech. An example would be that you force your hands forward to make an important point when you are trying to lie to the deception expert. On the other hand, manipulators are gestures in which one body part strokes, bits, or otherwise touches another body part. For example, when you are trying to lie to the deception expert, you may twirl your hair, bite your fingernails, or have some other nervous reaction.

I think the work that Paul Ekman did on microexpressions and nonverbal gestures is astonishing. To think that it is possible for someone to completely understand what you have done in the past or what you're currently thinking based off of your body is unbelievable. If you find this information fascinating, try watching the show Lie To Me. The entire show is based off of Ekman's work in the past and how it could be applied. So after reading only a little about this topic, do you think you could deceive the lie deception expert?

While looking up an article idea for the third blog, I ran across an article about experiments that showed psychology experiments that "proved humanity is doomed". While many of the experiment were looked over in the conformity discussion session, we didn't discuss the experiment that had the most dramatic impact on me this semester.

The article mentioned from above can be seen here.

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo had a chilling effect on me the first time I read about it. In the experiment, students were chosen to be prisoners while other students were selected to be guards. Zimbardo assumed the role of superintendent. The experiment was run for only six days, and in these few days, the students strongly conformed to their roles. The guards quickly let their responsibilities get out of hand, and Zimbardo allowed the experiment to continue. Even when the prisoners revolted, the guards didn't reconsider the experiment. In fact, the guards took further measures to subdue them physically and psychologically.

A documentary on the experiment can be seen here.

Throughout the experiment, the prisoners weren't actually prisoners, nor were the guards anything more than students. However, given the roles that they assumed, their reactions were genuine and harsh. They wanted the prisoners to feel as if they were imprisoned. Moreover, the guards wanted the prisoners to respect their authority.

Whereas the Asch Conformity Experiment and Candid Camera stunts were almost humorous in their premises, the Stanford Prison Experiment is borderline scary. While I disagree with the use of experiments such as these, this experiment shows so much of the human condition.

I want to remember what I took to heart from this experiment in five years. I want to remember how these people lost themselves, and as a result, these students harmed others. There is an evil that humanity is capable of when they lose themselves, and I want to remember that I must remain in the moment.

Theorist Claude Shannon has a maxim: "The enemy knows the system." Zimbardo will not be the last person to create a system that produces this breed of evil. Therefore, when a person like Philip Zimbardo puts the power into your hands, he knows the system. Be present in the moment. Don't become their system. Be the good in the world.

I'm confident that the topic that I will talk about in this blog post not only will be remembered after five years, but also will have been continuously reminded during five years. As many sexually active, unmarried men and women look for their soul mates, I will become 28 years old 5 years from now and be actively looking for a partner, with whom I will spend rest of my life. Therefore, building a good relationship will be my primary interest. Professor Simpson talked about relationship and attraction between man and woman, and focused on three essential components to build a new relationship. One of the first elements was "proximity"; physical nearness is important for new relationship formation. In other words, if I'm interested in a woman, I should try to get around her so that I can face her frequently. Second element was "similarity"; having similar interests is important to attract people. This makes sense because people are often attracted each other when they have similar interests and they would feel resemblance between them. Also, having similar interests would give them more topics to talk about. Third element is "reciprocity", which means rule of give and take. Even though reciprocity is not completely required for making a relationship, it is important to build deeper relationship. Reciprocity includes not only physical substances such as presents, but also personal information. Sharing and disclosing personal information or stories often brings about intimacy. I will never forget these three important principles. I will always try to be near to someone whom I like and learn about what she likes. Once, when the relationship is formed, I will talk about my personal stories as well as listen to her stories so that we can build deeper relationship.

I'm a junior in college preparing to apply to medical schools in a month and dealing with the workload of three majors. Stress is pretty much the definition of my life. Over the last half of this semester, I actually participated in a REP study on stress and coping, and I found it very fitting, albeit ironic, to read the chapter in our textbook on stress, coping, and health as the last week of the semester approaches. This year has been particularly grueling for me physically and mentally, so I think that I will remember this area of psychology the best five years from now.

The textbook was really good at underlining how stress is affecting my body physiologically. I already have high cholesterol and a family history of heart disease, so I'm probably shortening my life span by not doing more to lower my stress or deal with it effectively. Some suggestions the textbook gave were lowering alcohol consumption and improving diet and exercise habits, all of which I could definitely improve. The REP study I participated in also emphasized the importance of thinking about what we can and cannot control in stressful situations, which can improve how we mentally react. The Mayo Clinic has a large selection of links for coping with various types of stress if you have a specific situation or just aren't sure how to deal with stress effectively.

Many concepts from psychology stick out in my mind; however, the most significant one is relationships. Relationships are an important part of everyone's life. From Professor Jeff Simpson, we learned about attachment theory and that is not only plays a role in children, but also in adults.

Dr. Angela Hicks performed a study involving 39 participants to investigate the "link between romantic relationships and long term emotional and physical well-being." First, the individuals' attachment styles were assessed based on anxiousness and avoidance. Hicks documented the affects of conflict on sleep disturbance and mood. She conflict was assessed in bedtime journals and the mood was assessed in the morning.

It was found that the most anxious individuals lost the most amount of sleep. On the other hand, the individuals who exhibited the most emotional avoidance had the least sleep loss. Also, individuals who had trouble with emotional attachment had worse moods than those who were comfortable with attachment.

Dr. Hicks noted that it was already known that happy marriages are correlated with better health. Her research shows "that individuals who are in insecure relationships are more vulnerable to longer-term health risks from conflict than are others."
For more information about her study, here are two websites that describe it: ScienceDaily and PsychCentral.

After everything I have learned throughout Psychology, the one concept that will stick with me most is the concept of sleep. The idea of sleep may seem simple and self-explanitory but people (including myself) underestimate the importance of sleep. Sleeping is one of the most important aspects of life, After a good night's sleep you feel better, your thoughts are clearer, and your emotions are less fragile. Without adequate sleep, judgment, mood, and ability to learn and retain information are weakened. I have learned this already in college and have seen the effects of sleep reflect in my grades. I wonder if scientists will discover the exact scientific reasoning behind why sleep is so important in our lives. I will always remember how important sleep is and make sure to get the suggested amount of sleep so I can receive the healthy amount of REM sleep I need in order to be healthy. Another thing I wonder is if all people have the same sleeping cycles at night. Overall, it is important for everyone to get the suggested amount of sleep each night and be consistent. For more information on why sleep is important click here.

Psychology has such a wide variety of topics that it covers, ranging from a biological standpoint to a social psychological standpoint. I've learned so many things that I had never even heard of before taking this course. All of the behaviors and learning techniques were fascinating to say the least. There was one topic, however, that sparked my interest completely. That topic was Personality. Personality is such a unique thing, and by being able to quantify it into surveys and traits is amazing, and can help every single person understand themselves and the people that surround them better than they ever could imagine.

Looking more closely into the personality aspect of psychology, I believe that the "Big 5" character traits will stick with me the most as I continue on. Jeff Simpson lectured us and gave us the opportunity to explore ourselves by taking the Berkeley personality profile test. This test revealed a persons degree to which they were extroverted, agreeable, conscientious, neurotic, and open to new experiences. I feel that it is extremely helpful to know which qualities are most prominent and most lacking within us, because it helps to understand why we do the things that we do. One can grasp their actions and emotions by accepting these traits, and eventually use them to their benefit.

One of the things that I will remember from my psychology class will be advertising and classical conditioning. While most everyone enjoyed the advertising component of class, I feel like five years from now it will especially stick with me as I choose to pursue a career in marketing. The idea of transcending an emotion from an image to a product is so brilliant and simplistic that it will be a good base for developing more elaborate ads. Furthermore, I believe that by having knowledge about advertising, it has made both my classmates and I better consumers and viewers of media.

I now play a game with myself when I watch television to see what kind of behavior the advertisers are trying to arouse out of the consumer. This game becomes seemingly easier all the time. One of my favorite commercials to use this with is the Kia Optima commercial where the man dreams of racing his Kia and being flagged by a scantily clad women. Since advertising has yet to fully steer away from this way of marketing, the future of marketing will be interesting as students such as myself are still taught this method of promoting.

This semester of Psychology 1001 has taught me about many things that I think are applicable to my everyday life, and of course my future as well. One of these topics is the affect that authority has over us. The Milgram study, and others similar to it, displayed the extremes people are willing to go to, so to speak, to follow the "rules" of someone in charge. What was even more surprising were the factors that affected their compliance, such as proximity to the authority figure, proximity to the learner, and whether or not there was someone working with them. It was found that people were more likely to stand up if they were not alone, or if the authority figure was further away from them.
So although respecting authority is a very good thing, if there is a situation that you may no feel right about, or comfortable with, you need to stand up and say something. Although there may be consequences or punishments initially, it is most likely for the better in the long run. This message, among many others, will stick with me as I move forward in my college years, and beyond them as well.

The concept in psychology that I will remember for the next five years will most likely be the mere fact that even though you don't think you have an impact on the development of people around you, you really do. The biggest thing was learning about parenting styles, it doesn't seem that hard when we think about it as adolescents and young adults but when we reach the age of rearing children this is the most valuable information anyone could get. From the three styles of parenting: authoritarian, permissive and authoritative; there could be many ways a child could turn out different. With my children I will be using the parenting style of authoritative because that is what my parents did with me and I turned out fine. Also, because it has been proven that when parents set boundaries with their children but are affectionate, loving and caring for them. According to some stories about bad parenting, children seem to do whatever they want due to permissive parenting or they rebel and do exactly the opposite of their parents' wishes due to authoritarian parenting. Here is a story that demonstrates what happens when parents are too tough on their children: Mean Parents. But one thing I will keep in mind is that it is not 100% the parents fault for the child's deviance; it could be related with the child's personality/genetics.

Thus far I feel that Psychology has been the only relevant class to my education and development as a human that I will use in real life. In five years I hope to possibly be starting a family and with this I will hope to remember a few things I learned in the unit of developmental psychology. Looking at the research done, I have learned that kids are much smarter than I previously believed them to be. After all, a baby in utero is habituated to recognize its mother's voice!
When it comes to rearing a child, it's pretty difficult to 'mess up' a child. All kids really need is lots of love, some direction and support when needed and within reason and an outlet of creativity and energy. One does not need to be a superstar parent. Kids will develop at their own pace if you give them the resources and the room to develop. I hope to remember to keep a balanced, authoritative parenting style- a happy medium between authoritarian and permissive parenting styles.
Chapter 10 is what I hope to retain the most of from this semester of psychology. Although the development was described from conception to old age, the research done on children from birth to adolescence was the most fascinating to me. Although the things described above are intuitive for most people, it is incredibly important that not only nature, but nurture plays a vital role in the development of a healthy, functional individual.

We learned about quite a few different topics this semester. However, from attraction to abnormal psychology, the one thing that remained constant was the use of scientific thinking. The six principles of ruling of rival hypotheses, correlation vs. causation, falsifiability, replicability, extraordinary claims and Occam's razor guided our exploration of each topic. I think these are ideas that can help you evaluate claims and situations throughout your life and this is why the book and lectures made a point of trying to ingrain them in us. We're learned a lot about how easy it is to unknowingly bias our opinions through things like the confirmation bias or availability heuristic, some examples of which are shown here. We also learned how to avoid these types of things through scientific thinking and in 5 years I hope I am still actively challenging my ideas and opinions through these methods.

Imagine seeing someone who looks exactly like you walking down the sidewalk opposite you. He/she looks so much alike that you are convinced he/she could be your twin. It turns out, he/she is. If there is one thing that will stand out for me from this semester, it will be some of the discussion we had on twin studies.

The study I described is a psychological study that separates twins at birth and reunites them decades later. It is discussing the age old debate of Nature vs Nurture. Does our genetic makeup or the environment in which we are raised determine our personality and intelligence. According to this study, the Monozygotic twins, share 100% same genes, who were separated show some similarities through the separation and some dissimilarities. Lets take the story of Oskar and Jack regarding personality. They were raised in separate regions of the world and still ended up with similar personality scores on tests: intense, loyal, and politically engaged. However, they both supported groups who were polar opposites. Oskar supported the Nazi movement, Jack was helping to build the Jewish state of Israel. The fact that their personality traits were very similar shows that the genetics approach is at least partially true. Moving on to intelligence. When studies of separated Monozygotic Twins are examined, we find similarly that MZ twins have very similar scores on intelligence tests. The fact that these two groups both show a very similar personality and intelligence suggests again that genetics is a key part of the picture of human characteristic. However, if this was the case why would the twins not be perfectly aligned? There is still variablity within these studies proving that environment also has a role. We should all be aware of these interesting studies because, who knows, you could be walking down the street and could miss your twin on the other sidewalk. For more on twin studies and what Harvard is doing with them click here

I was a fan of the show Criminal Minds ever since it aired on NBC in 2001. For those of you who haven't heard of the show it's about criminal profilers at the FBI and how they draw clues from murders, make a personality profile of the perpetrator to try to predict his next move and catch him.
While taking this psychology course (especially during the personality chapter) I learned that interpreting personality based on behavior is often an amateur skill. Studies often show that untrained individuals can make just as an educated guess about criminals and their behavior than a criminal profiler can (even though Criminal Minds presents the exact opposite).

Criminal profilers' assessments sometimes reflect the P.T. Barnum effect which our book defines as "the tendency of people to accept the high base rate description as accurate." So in most cases presenting obvious analysis that the average person could make.
However, on Criminal Minds about 33 percent of the time they get the profile wrong and have to re-think their strategy showing that not all personality assessments can be accurate.
Criminal profiling is still being used in the FBI. Not only does it use psychology but also criminology. If I didn't have my heart set on a different career this would definitely be my second choice.
What do you think about criminal profiling and the show? Do you think FBI should still be using criminal profilers?

Senstation and Perception is something that really caught my eye. Optical Illusions have always been something that blew my mind and it was nice to be able to learn about why. Sensation and perception are the underlying processes operating in visual illusions (124). The way to describe what happens when looking at illusions the book explains it as a perceptual process called filling in. Most often times filling in is adaptive, as it helps us make sense of our often confusing and chaotic perceptual worlds. But sometimes it can fool us, as in the case of visual illusions.
This picture is a great example of how we can be easily fooled-
This picture shows a saxophone player. Right when you looked at it that's what you saw right away correct? But what if I said "look at this picture of this woman"... This is due to top down processing which is a concept of processing that is influenced by certain beliefs and expectancies. You had initially expected to see a saxophone player right away, and that is what your mind saw due to a certain expectancy and belief that you had in your mind.

Overall though, what we learnt about ovulation was very interesting to me. As odd of a topic this was it is something that stuck with me. Women are more attractive during ovulation. This is something that I never had heard of. The video clip we watched in our discussion section was incredibly interesting! When ovulating, a female's features are more profound. Such as her lips may be more full, have more pigment in their cheeks and their face, their faces may be more round and overall just a more appealing look. Ovulation may even make someone less tired and give them a "glow".

Another interesting fact I found was about attractiveness and what draws a male more into you...pupils. As stated in the book on page 137, research demonstrates that men tend to find the faces of women with larger pupils more attractive than those with smaller pupils, even when they're unaware of their reason for their preference.

Overall, chapter 4, sensation and perception, is something that I will take with me from Psychology 1001 and most likely remember in 5 years. Although we were asked to write about one thing we will take with us 5 years from now I couldn't choose just one!!! All the topics that I mentioned are so interesting, and effect people like us! I would have never thought that a females face can look more attractive when ovulating, or that men were more attracted to women with larger pupils! I learned so much more that I didn't even mention about illusions that I will always remember and still be drawn to. It is truly amazing how the mind works!!

There is no question that the amount of sleep we receive has a larger impact on our bodies. Sleep deprivation can lead to so many problems, not just physical, but psychological as well. All the information learned on sleeping during my Psych 1001 class is definitely going to stick with me for the rest of my life. The emphasis put on a good nights rest intrigued me. I had no idea that not getting enough sleep could cause so much harm to ourselves. Before retaining this information I was only getting about 4-5 hours of sleep on average. What I read was that a grown adult should be getting about 7-9 hours of sleep in order to stay healthy. This came as a shock to me! Some studies even say that trying to function while you are tired is equivalent to be legally drunk. Sleep deprivation can lead to weight and memory issues, since sleep is when our mind and bodies have time to recuperate. Needless to say since I gained more knowledge about sleep I have tried to change my sleeping habits. It is amazing how much one more hour of sleep can change how you function daily. Give a try, more sleep is vital!

Five years from now a concept that I think I will remember is that of alternative or contemporary medicine and specifically the discussion on acupuncture. When I was a freshman in high school I injured my shoulder and one of the treatments that was done on it was acupuncture. I found the process to be intensely painful. However, in chapter 12 it is discussed as an energy medicine, a practice of medicine that is becoming increasingly popular. I think I will remember this concept because it, along other alternative and contemporary medicines are becoming increasingly common; and it is likely I will encounter this treatment option in the future as I am an avid athlete. For many of these treatments there is controversy as to if they actually are beneficial to one's heath. Thanks to the discussion on them in our psychology book however, I feel I am much more equipped to make sound medical decisions on my own regarding them and can understand what they are and how they may be helpful to an individual's health. For a detailed list of some other alternative medicines including acupuncturehere.

Five years from now, the majority of us will be done with this chapter in our life, and potentially have moved on to the years where we may begin to settle down. If you don't want to be that crazy cat lady, I think it will be helpful to remember these concepts about attraction. Potential mates are often first feeling the attraction thanks to physical attraction based on symmetry, youth, healthiness and an average face. Other factors that play a large contributing factor are reciprocity, similarity, and proximity.
Proximity is the physical nearness factor that affects attraction. This may seem like common sense, as it is difficult to foster a long distance relationship. Who knows, that guy you sit next to in Psychology discussion may turn into the guy working out of the cubicle next to you.
Similarity is also a solid predictor of attraction. Having things in common leads to similarity. For example, shared interest in the Gophers now may continue throughout your adult life, or possibly ten years down the road you will become an avid Vikings fan and meet the mate of your dreams there.
Proximity also plays a role in attraction. Nobody likes a moocher, so equal give and take is necessary in any healthy relationship.
These are a brief overview of a few concepts that I think I will remember 5 years down the road. You too should remember them, and they just might be the reason you find the person of your dreams!

With mental health awareness day happening this week I realized that there are so many people in my life that are affected by a mental health issue. Some are only affected by seasonal depression while others are suffering from chronic depression. Although I care so much for those people I do not have a great understanding of what happens to people with depression, mentally and physically. That is why the thing that I will take most out of this class and out of psychology today is the information about depression and antidepressants.

Although we didn't cover depression in great detail in this class there are things that I have learned about medication that helps me understand how my friends are battling their problems. It also lead me to researching more information on my own about medication and talking to them about it.

Right now one of my friends is having a constant struggle to find the right medication. He recently started a new prescription that put his body through nausea and pain before it started working. Now a few months later it is improving his mental health but damaging his endocrine system . (Here are some side affects of antidepressants) This means that he has to start weaning himself off this medication only to try another one.

Along with depression medication it is also important to understand what is truly happening in their minds. There is harsh emotional reality to having depression. Someone may have a constant feeling of failure, lack of self worth, or complete lack of motivation. All of which are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It's hard not to just be frustrated and say, just be happy, but the reality is that is not an option. Understanding this makes understanding my friends a lot clearer. I wish there was something I could do for him, but there isn't. The only thing I really can do is learn as much as possible and be there for him when he needs me.

Never criticize. One of the major principles that I will take with me from this course and apply to my daily life is reward vs. punishment. Let's face it, nobody blames themselves for anything, ever. Criticizing never does any good, yet will cause the other person you resent you. Why not influence people with positive attitudes? It will be a lot more effective and will work wonders for your life.
Say, one day you are a manager, and you ask a subordinate to prepare for you two reports. After reviewing the reports, you find that one of the reports is very thorough and complete, and one of the reports is absolutely terrible. What should you do to ensure this employee does a better job next time? You do not punish/criticize them for their terribly written report; instead you praise them for their well-written report. This is more likely to result in their change of behavior without causing resentment. They will feel appreciated and will continue to keep putting out good work. Mitt Romney knows this, and so should you.

Reward is a much more effective method of changing behavior. This is a concept I will remember many, many years from now. Many people do not embrace this logic, however. People continue to insist that governments should heavily tax corporations based on carbon emissions in order to promote a sustainable, eco-friendly environment. That sounds like punishment, causing resentment, forcing corporations to fight back or move all of their work abroad. In this case, taxation acts as a form of punishment. A more effective solution would be to offer tax breaks and other incentives for companies to invest in clean energy sources. This may bring sustainable companies to do work in the United States, as well as would help preserve the earth. Reward good behavior, don't punish bad behavior. Read more about how rewards/incentives is the best way to create a healthy earth at ">

There are few things in this world that I love more than sleep. A concept from this class that I will remember is what I learned about the biology of sleep. A major problem I have is getting a sufficient amount of rest (as I'm sure a good percentage of my classmates know all about). Although psychologists have different ideas regarding why we sleep at all, they do agree that it is necessary for survival. The demands of school or work may require one to skimp on sleep, but doing so can have drastic effects on many different aspects. Lack of sleep can result in decreased effectiveness of memory consolidation, hindering learning. It can take a toll on your mood and stress level while also throwing your weight and immune system off balance. The average healthy adult needs between 7.5 and 9 hours of rest each night. For some it just isn't going to happen but one useful fact to remember from this course is to work with your REM cycle. If you find yourself groggy in the mornings, try sleeping at a 90 minute multiple, for it is said to make you feel more wakeful. For tips from Mayo clinic on getting quality sleep click here. It is important to know about sleep in order to function better in everyday life. No doubt it will help me in the future!

The concepts that we learned about in this psychology class that I feel I'll be able to remember the best in five years are the ones regarding relationships and how we maintain them. I consider this to be the most personal topic pertaining to my life that I learned about, and I feel like a lot of the people in this class would agree with me.

A big problem for me in regards to starting college was how I was going to be able to stay in touch with all my friends back home. Seeing as how proximity plays a major role in maintaining relationships, I had good reason to worry. I was no longer going to be able to see my friends and boyfriend every day in school. They weren't going to be just a 10-minute drive away. Going to college two and a half hours away from my friends and family definitely put on strain on our relationships.

I learned a lot from reading the chapter in the book that talked about the components of relationships and what keeps them strong. It helped me understand the issues I'm going through a little better. I'm not going to forget this immediately after the final because relationships will always be a huge part of my life.

Perhaps the concept that will remain with me five years from now that I learned in Psychology 1001 is that of the bystander effect. The bystander effect is defined as the non responsiveness of those witnessing an event. I was shocked to learn that numerous deaths and rapes could have been prevented by someone intervening instead of assuming that another witness would step in and stop the crime.

Having been certified in first aid and CPR, I will be more willing to use my skills if I approach a situation in which they are needed. Instead of assuming someone more qualified or experienced than I will step in, I need to do the best I can with the training I have. When I witness a crime or an emergency, I will not be more aware of the need to step in and help instead of looking for someone else to do so. Learning about the bystander effect can prevent stoppable crimes and deaths from occurring. In addition to knowing this myself, I will be more likely to share this information with my friends and peers so that preventable tragedies can be avoided. As a result of taking psychology 1001, I have learned that the bystander effect can be extremely dangerous and that I should step in and help in an emergency.

Is people's behavior best explained by the environment and situation they find themselves in, or by their personality, which guides behavior no matter what the situation is? We knew from the famous Situation vs. Personality Debate that both personality and environment can influence a person, but in Social Psychology, one of the dominant themes is that situations affect our behavior. Human are social creatures and our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence of others

A person's behavioral pattern may changes depends on whether one is appreciated by others or not. We call it social facilitation, which is the tendency for people to do better on tasks when in the presence of other people. We might notice in our daily lives that whenever people are being watched by others, they will do well or even better than usual on things that they are already good at doing.

One of a good example about social facilitation in my daily lives was my experience in the gym yesterday. I was lifting weights alone first. Then a friend came over to talk. I was just getting ready to do bench presses at the time. With him watching, I focused more on what I was doing and was able to lift substantially more than I had before. When my friend was watching me did this simple task, I wanted to impress him so I lift more than usual. My behavior changed due to that situation and also exemplified social facilitation.

Freud. Few people are as well known, notorious, and iconic as early 1900's theorist and psychologist Sigmund Freud. The notoriety of the man who created Fruedism is undeniable, but is the validity of his theories as substantial as the man's popularity? Arguably the most well known development of Freudism comes from Freud's theory that one's personality is bifurcated into three parts: the id, the reservoir of our personality that craves instant pleasure and gratification, the ego- which serves as the personality's decision maker-and the superego, our sense of mortality containing right and wrong. Although the theory is well known and well developed, the idea does is not a certainty. Those who refute Freud's postulates feel that one's mind is not as separated as Freud proposes, rather, the personality of a given person has a strong sense of continuity and consistency. To some, the idea of a personality being split between an "angel" and "devil" is far-fetched and illogical, but the psychoanalytical advocates of Freud's theory vouch for the idea's portrayal of the conflict amongst a person's conscious and subconscious. Regardless, no matter what direction a person approaches Freud's philosophy, the idea is revolutionary and stirs curiosity as to how a person's personality functions. Like it or love it, thanks to Sigmund Freud, people are left learning or questioning more about the human personality, which can only lead to more knowledge of the mind.

General people might think it is safer in company of many other than of small number of people. They reason that if there are many people around them, many people would help them when they are in dangerous or emergency situations. However, it turns out that it might be more dangerous in many people than in small number of people. Bystander nonintervention or bystander effect is social psychological phenomenon that occurs when people do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other, especially many, people are present. Two famous cases clearly represent bystander nonintervention and show that being in many numbers can be more dangerous than being in few numbers. On March 13, 1964 28-year-old Catherine Genovese was stabbed near her apartment in New York City. She was screaming and crying for help for about 30 minutes in front of her apartment, no one tried to help her and even did not bother to call the police. According to neighbors, more than 30 of her neighbors heard the scream. On October 23, 2009, a 16-year-old girl was raped by group of people when about 20 bystanders stood and watched. Surprisingly, no one helped her and even called the police even though many of them have cellphones. Darley and Latane suggested that two main factors explain bystander nonintervention. The first is pluralistic ignorance, which means that people cannot recognize the situation as an emergency because they assume that nobody is responding to the situation. The second is diffusion of responsibility, which means that people feel less responsible when more people are present in the situation. The presence of many other individuals makes them think that other people also can help if they don't help victims. However, I think that it would be safer in many numbers if people in dangerous situation know effective ways to ask for help. First, it is important to let other people know that he or she is in dangerous situation and needs immediate help. Second, one of effective ways to ask for help is to point out directly to nearby bystander and ask for help. It makes not only the pointed bystander recognize the situation but also feel more responsible to help.

Having lived in the South in the past, I found the concept of "culture of honor" very interesting. Within the article by Cohen et al., (1996) not only does "culture of honor" shape the individual reaction, but affects the policies and laws of the region in the form of gun control, and self defense. In the movies, one sees the Southern gentlemen standing back to back, walking ten paces, and then shooting. Is this a relic of the past?
The research had different experiments under the umbrella of the study, and not all of the experiments showed statistical significance in the findings. They also stated a limitation of the research is that the research took place on a Northern college campus (Michigan) and all participants were from higher income bracket families. The Southern students had chosen to go to a Northern school. A confounding variable could be that these males did not adhere to the Southern perspective of having to be aggressive to protect one's honor, and were open to living in the North. It would be interesting to conduct the experiment in a Southern town setting, and possibly within the general population to test the reliability of the findings.
I personally did not experience co-workers coming to blows for bumping into one another in the hallway, but I also lived in a metro area that had a large mixture of Northerners. Possibly if I had lived in a rural area with a higher concentration of Southern men, we would have had a few good break time duels.

Ever been to an intense sporting event where everyone is on the edge of their seats the entire time? Then all of a sudden an athlete makes an extraordinary play and the crowd seems to erupt as if it were one. While some attribute this to the fans love for their team, psychologists suggest different reasoning behind this. Psychologists believe that this can be explained because of social contagion. Social contagion is when we turn to others to figure out how to act in a certain situation. When a significant play is made in a game we look to others to learn how to interpret the play. If all the other fans are cheering and going crazy, you may be compelled to stand up from your seat and cheer. However, if everyone in the crowd is booing a team's bad play, you quite possibly could be convinced to leave the game. This theory of social contagion has also been studied to explain why people riot after sporting events. Psychologists suggest that the feeling of being in a large group of people can lead a person to do things that they wouldn't usually do by themselves. The group rioting is feeding off of itself and becomes more dangerous as time continues.

The idea of implicit prejudices is a very interesting one. Implicit prejudice refers to the unfounded negative belief of which we're unaware of regarding the characteristics of an out-group. To test for this researchers have come up with the Implicit Association Test (IAT). According to the IAT 54% of subjects have moderate or strong preference for Caucasians over African Americans. This information is disturbing to say the least, but the tests validity has been called into question because of its lack of falsifiability. If you want to take the test for yourself it can be found here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/

Because the concept of implicit prejudice and the IAT place so much emphasis on the subconscious, I got to wondering how Freud would describe such a phenomenon. Would he explain it by arguing Caucasians' adverse feelings toward African-Americans are a result of them projecting their negative qualities onto another, or would he claim it's an act of displacement, directing an impulse from a socially unacceptable target onto a more socially acceptable target. Society seems to have deemed negative feelings toward African Americans to be okay, but negative feelings against one's own race to be unacceptable. Because of this, Caucasians may displace their negative feelings about their own race onto an out-group, which serves as a scapegoat in this situation. Unfortunately, there is no way for Freud himself to explain implicit prejudices, but it is an interesting thing to ponder. How do you think Freud would explain implicit prejudice?

A reocurring theme in psychology is how much situation influences our behavior. Everyone is different and certain situational elements cause different results in each individual. One very popular situational dilemma that faces us all at one point or another is the need to belong. People do not want to be outcasted for being different. There is a deep inner desire to blend in and be accepted by one's peers. Most of us have all faced problems that have forced us to go against our beliefs if we wanted to fit in with the crowd, at some point in our lives.
Getting a sense of self satisfaction by belonging isn't a bad thing, and is instinctive to us. We all long to have that feeling of importance. However, being persuaded by others to violate your internal code of ethics is often unavoidable in certain circumstances if you wish to carry on living in the same fashion that you have grown accustomed to. The root of this dilemma stems from becoming involved with certain social groups that get you into such situations. Choose your friends and people you associate with wisely. Stay unique. Belonging and conforming do not have to go hand in hand.

For blog #3 I chose to take an Implicit Association Test (IAT). I was asked play the role of consumer and first looked over an advertisement about a fictitious laundry detergent called Softate. While observing the product, I noticed certain things that as a consumer would be turned off by; such examples would be like that Softate is "almost as effective as the other well known brands" or that it is "packaged cheaply so it can be the same price as the other guys." To me this was a product I would never consider buying, so when the questions about whether I would buy the product came up I answered as such. Following the short opinion of product section, there was a matching portion where I was asked to sort pictures of detergents with a Softate label or a Other Detergents label. This task was followed with a sorting of adjectives like marvelous and glorious or awful and unpleasant into the side of "Softate" or "Other Detergents" categories. Then halfway through the sorting, the sides of the categories were swapped, and i continued to sort the pictures and adjectives. Once the sorting was complete a couple more questions were asked to me and I responded with dislike towards Softate. The test was then complete.

When I went to see the results of the test, I was shocked to see that I "showed little or no opinion towards Softate." Throughout the whole test I had adamantly stated that I would never buy the product. However, the test determined otherwise. How could this be? It turns out that my neutrality was from an unconscious response to the sorting portion of the test. Though I may have thought I knew what I thought, I actually didn't. Confusing right? Well IATs test this phenomenon of how people don't know their own minds with tests like the one I took. Some factors of why something is thought consciously are because of things like social, political, economic restrictors. Unconscious things are tricky business, and it is difficult to think of where something that isn't thought by your conscious comes from. This is a great way to checkup on your consciousness, so go take a test for yourself and see if you think you know what you think here.

As we approach the end of the semester and the weather gets warmer, and our desire to procrastinate and relax into a vegetative state of mind for the next 10 weeks increases exponentially on a daily basis, an ominous feeling looms in the air. It is the threat of impossibly difficult finals, and students are bracing themselves for the toughest week of the semester, if not the whole year. Some students become hermits, never leaving their rooms unless to acquire basics such as food. Others cluster, trying to learn as much from each other as possible. And then there are those, like me, who panic.

All human personalities are measurable on some scale of the 'Big 5' traits- openness, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.
Can these five traits affect in any way our abilities to study under pressure? I asked a few of my friends in Psych1001, who took the online survey provided to us, to help me out. One of my friends said that although she understands the gravity of the finals, she isn't worried and feels confident in her abilities. Not surprisingly, she scored high in extraversion and openness, and relatively low in neuroticism (actually low, but numerically high as we were "tricked" when taking the survey) and average in conscientiousness. Another friend said that she, (like myself) is very anxious about the upcoming tests and prefers to study alone rather than with others. She also finds it rather difficult to get things organized and get going, something I am quite good at. How did our scores compare? We had the exact same score in neuroticism (19- although 'low', inversely was rather high). Our extraversion and agreeableness scores were also very similar. Conscientiousness, the behavior associated with constraint, differed significantly- her score was 6 points lower than my own.

Do you feel that your scores on the survey given to us before class last week reflect your study habits and the feeling you have about stressful situations, like finals? (Forgot your score? Click here for an online test in the big 5!) Is there anything you've found to be contradictory or unexpected?

Finals de-stress-er: If you need a mental break, take 2 minutes and look at the '13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day'

Have you ever noticed that you do something better when with another person or in a group? The phenomenon of social facilitation has been studied for about a hundred years.
In 1898, Triplett had noticed bicycle racers times were better when they raced as a group. Additional experiments showed that doing activities as groups improves speed on simple calculations, and improves accuracy in simple motor tasks. When someone is surrounded by other people, their arousal increases.
What about just being part of the crowd?
When you're at an athletic event do you really get into the game like yelling at the ref and cheering really loud? Arousal is the reason for that. Being in a crowd makes people perspire more, breathe faster, tense muscles, and increase heart rate.

What is it about being part of a group that increases our arousal?
1. Evaluation apprehension: fear of being judged by others can increase our arousal.
2. Distraction: when people are focusing on how others are reacting to them, those thoughts become distracting and can hamper performance on complex tasks in the presence of others.
3. Mere Presence: Even with no evaluation or apprehension, someone will perform a task better by just with someone being there.
So what do you think? Do you do things better in the presence of others?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could determine a person's personality based on the order they were born in? Many popular books associate certain characteristics of people based on their birth order however, further research shows that this claim is not valid. Such books often categorize firstborns as being high achievers, middle children as being the peace makers, and the youngest as risk takers. Upon further examination however, these claims fall victim to the scientific principle of replicatability; it is extremely difficult to find examples of this being true in every family. For example in my own family, my middle sister is more of an achiever while my youngest brother acts as a peace keeper. This suggests that this idea does not hold true in every situation. Also correlation versus causation could also play a role as being the oldest and desiring to set a good example could result in the eldest child being an achiever not just the fact that they were born first. The theory of birth order is most likely popular because it provides an easy explanation as to why certain people exhibit the personalities that they do and helps people to make sense of each other's actions. ns. Check out this article to find out more.

Ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? Well according to social facilitation this may not be a bad thing. Social facilitation states that people perform certain tasks better when they are in the presence of other people. It is important to consider in social situations, because it implies that people's performance does not rely solely on their abilities, but is also impacted by the internal awareness of being evaluated. This is true for simple tasks, tasks people are good at already, or already learned tasks, but not for difficult or novel tasks.

Whenever I think of social facilitation the first thing that comes to mind is the pacemaker or "rabbit" in track. The job of the pacemaker is to lead the initial laps of a mid-long distance race to ensure fast times and avoid excessive tactical racing. Pacemakers are frequently employed by race organizers for world record attempts with specific instructions for lap times. It is not clear when pacemakers first made their appearance of the running scene, but they gained much usage after Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway successfully paced Roger Bannister to break the four-minute mile for the first time in 1954.

I believe that just the presence of someone motivates our competitive nature. I know that I personally get a much better workout when I'm with someone. They help me keep my dreaming at bay and focused on the task at hand. More about social facilitation as well as findings by Norman Triplett can be found here.

From country to country and culture to culture, most agree that youth and symmetry represent beauty. But specific beauty standards differ immensely. For a moment, imagine an ideal American woman. An image of Megan Fox or Katrina Bowden may come to mind. They could both be described as thin, tall, and breathtakingly pretty by the average American's standards. And do take note, that these beauty standards are the ones that often pressure women to go to sickening lengths of plastic surgery, implants, fake teeth, fake hair and fake tans. Is this what beauty is all about? If beauty can really be held to a single standard than by all means, go on a diet, get your hair done and spend all your money on the latest fashion trends.
To me, however, beauty is more than a single aspect, and I encourage you to explore standards around the world. In Mauritania, being curvy is being beautiful. Girls are fattened up in order to become more desirable to their future husbands. In the Middle East, beauty isn't all about appearance but sometimes what meets the nose, or just a glimpse of the dark eyes under the head to toe black covering that most women there sport. For members of a tribe near Thailand, long necks are considered ideal, and they wear rings around their necks in order for them to appear more elongated. These examples are ones that show while some simple beauty standards are consistent around the world, many more vary. So be yourself and you'll be beautiful.

For more photos of beauty ideals throughout the world, click here

Could how you look be determining if you get the job? In recent studies about how attractiveness affects your career it was found that it is not just you that is getting the job it is also how you look. This is because employers want a good face associated with their company. According to Newsweek when it comes to getting hired in the first place 57% of managers say that an unattractive but qualified job candidate will have a hard time getting hired. Employers judge books by their covers they are blinded by what is sitting in front of them and sometimes do not even take a look at the actual job candidate's resume.
The same goes for relationships we are told not to judge a book by its cover all the time but we still do it. However, this is not just the case within one race it covers all races. According to our Psych 1001 textbook if you ask a man of African American, Asian or Caucasian decent who they find more attractive they will tend to agree on the same person. Is there a way to change how people think and stop judging books by their covers or is this something that is going to be the same no matter how hard we try?

Sadly it's true. Many believe that lie detectors are flawless; however research shows that polygraphs are only accurate 70% of the time. Through social media and TV shows I thought I knew the basics to lie detection, but after reading more in depth about it, I now realize that I was wrong. I was surprised to find out that there is "little to no correlation between people's confidence in their ability to detect lies and their accuracy", or in other words confidence doesn't relate to correctness. An article in USA Today revealed that "Lie detectors are likely lying themselves." According to the article, It turns out that polygraphy is not only an incredibly inexact science, but that reading the results of a lie detector is almost entirely subjective. The problem isn't that the machines don't record something, but that what's recorded is entirely up to interpretation. In my opinion, I feel that the reasoning the article gives is incorrect, but that could be because the article is old. This article contradicts with previous statement about confidence and the ability to detect lies. For that reason, I believe that this article is a not a great source, but it does have some useful information.

This topic grasped my interest because I love watching mystery shows. One of my favorite shows is White Collar where Neal Caffrey is a "former" con artist who is serving a four year sentence for bond forgery under the supervision of agent Peter Burke of the FBI. In one episode, he falsely passes a polygraph by poking himself with a thumbtack before answering every question. This is just one of several tricks to passing a polygraph. In fact, there is a website especially designed to help people falsely pass polygraphs.

Overall, I think we can all safely say that polygraphs are not the best option, but then the question comes to mind; what can beat the lie detector? Maybe something like this might do the trick. This new idea would be using eye movement to detect lies. Instead of measuring a person's emotional reaction to lying, eye-tracking technology measures the person's cognitive reaction. Only time will tell, if this will truly work.

For video click here
Is there more to love than hugs, kisses, or stuffed animals and chocolates on Valentine's Day? It seems like American popular culture focuses on the corporate and consumer symbols of love instead of the science behind the attraction. While the children in the video don't have a deep understanding of what it means to be in a romantic relationship, they do describe a popular perception of love: that being in love means that you like someone and you give them hugs and kisses. People often ignore what causes attraction: proximity, similarity, reciprocity, and physical attraction. To have consummate love, a relationship needs intimacy, passion, and commitment, and according to the triangular theory of love you need at least some combination of two of those factors to have some degree of love. It seems like the popular perception of love is changing and evolving, but to what end? Having similar values, education, age, proximity, and other factors are good indicators of determining the longevity of a relationship, but people rarely describe those characteristics when they talk about why they love their partner. You rarely hear people say "I love my partner because she sat next to me on the bus on our way to class for a semester when we were undergrads. Not all relationships are based on superficial and corporate definitions of love, but it seems like the American popular culture is focusing on the feelings and responses of being in love, and not the physical, and mental connections associated with it.

The outraged and comical responses to Samantha Brick's blog "There are downsides to looking this Pretty: Why Women Hate Me for Being Beautiful", just about broke the internet. In the blog, the French freelance writer claims to have received various gifts from males strangers, and to have been shunned from females who were friends and coworkers who were just flat out jealous of her looks.

In our PSY 1001 teachings on physical attractiveness, we have learned that while symmetry has proven to be a main contributor to attractiveness, as it provides a sense of health and 'good genes' to the onlooker, further studies also show that people are more attracted to just 'plain average' symmetric faces - as well as 'just average' pets and objects.

Our book also discussed a study of speed dating, when men and women interact with potential dates for a mere three minutes. When all was said and done, men chose to have further contact with 50% of the women they met, whereas women were more decidedly pickier, selecting just 30% of the men to meet again.

Therefore the problem with Mrs. Brick's claims is that she is forgetting to rule out rival hypotheses. The fact that men open doors for her, buy her drinks, even full bottles of champaign could merely mean that she is in the top 50% of attractive females that these men encounter. I don't know if that makes her "too beautiful" or "just average". Given her 40+ years of age, chance offers an explanation for some of the gifts offered to her by men.

Women are not just picky about looks of the opposite sex, we are known to be picky of one another. Although Brick's claims that she is " not smug" and is "not a flirt", the fact that she does not further examine her personality as the possible problematic context and rather uses every piece of 'evidence' to support her claim could be considered confirmation bias. It would have been interesting to see what some of the 'jealous females' would have to say either prior to her writing the blog or in response. The way Mrs. Brick acts around men or in response to male attention could be an indicator of how she is being treated by other women. This is just one possibly theory out of many.

To Samantha Brick. please think before you speak. There is usually a lot of grey connecting the black and the white.

Read the blog: 'There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful visit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2124246/Samantha-Brick-downsides-looking-pretty-Why-women-hate-beautiful.html#ixzz1rWp8a5Wo

The outraged and comical responses to Samantha Brick's blog "There are downsides to looking this Pretty: Why Women Hate Me for Being Beautiful", just about broke the internet. In the blog, the French freelance writer claims to have received various gifts from males strangers, and to have been shunned from females who were friends and coworkers who were just flat out jealous of her looks.

In our PSY 1001 teachings on physical attractiveness, we have learned that while symmetry has proven to be a main contributor to attractiveness, as it provides a sense of health and 'good genes' to the onlooker, further studies also show that people are more attracted to just 'plain average' symmetric faces - as well as 'just average' pets and objects.

Our book also discussed a study of speed dating, when men and women interact with potential dates for a mere three minutes. When all was said and done, men chose to have further contact with 50% of the women they met, whereas women were more decidedly pickier, selecting just 30% of the men to meet again.

Therefore the problem with Mrs. Brick's claims is that she is forgetting to rule out rival hypotheses. The fact that men open doors for her, buy her drinks, even full bottles of champaign could merely mean that she is in the top 50% of attractive females that these men encounter. I don't know if that makes her "too beautiful" or "just average". Given her 40+ years of age, chance offers an explanation for some of the gifts offered to her by men.

Women are not just picky about looks of the opposite sex, we are known to be picky of one another. Although Brick's claims that she is " not smug" and is "not a flirt", the fact that she does not further examine her personality as the possible problematic context and rather uses every piece of 'evidence' to support her claim could be considered confirmation bias. It would have been interesting to see what some of the 'jealous females' would have to say either prior to her writing the blog or in response. The way Mrs. Brick acts around men or in response to male attention could be an indicator of how she is being treated by other women. This is just one possibly theory out of many.

To Samantha Brick. Please think before you speak. There is usually a lot of grey connecting the black and the white.

To read the blog: 'There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful visit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2124246/Samantha-Brick-downsides-looking-pretty-Why-women-hate-beautiful.html#ixzz1rWp8a5Wo

Okay, admit it ladies. You have probably pondered your wedding at least once in your lives. Some of you, me included, may even have a "secret folder" on our computer full of wedding dresses and rings etc. that we hope our significant other won't find. But if you haven't completely checked into that level of crazy yet, then you may perhaps have seen an episode of the popular TLC show Say Yes To The Dress. Set at one of the largest and most expensive bridal salon's in the world, Klienfeld's in New York City, Say Yes To The Dress epitomizes the conspicuous consumerism now married to american weddings which cost, on average, $28,000 per event.

Now, if unlike me you are a wedding sceptic, the question you may be asking is why?How did it possibly go this far and where did the lavish tradition come from? As discussed in the Washington Post Article "Wedded to Consumption" found here, it all comes down to the psychological triangular theory of love and the all important facet of commitment. None of this wedding spending craze is actually new, as early as the 1950's pop culture produced movies like the original Father of the Bride where a middle class father is at a loss to explain why his daughter needs such a lavish wedding. Traditionally, the wedding and the gifts exchanged at showers etc. were an important means of providing the new couple with all they would need for their new household. Brides spent years collecting their trousseaus and hope chests to take into their new role. These days, the article argues, because sex and cohabitation are usually no longer postponed in a relationship the wedding has been glorified to be a symbolic transformation of the couple to show their eternal commitment. A transformation of the inward self marked by the outward accumulation of stuff. This transformation is one of the defining marks of commitment in a consummate relationship and may, because of the extreme cost and publicity of the event, cause us to remain committed for some time to come.

Personally, while I understand that this has all gotten a little out of hand, with the industry spurning billions of dollars of profit each year and despite being a fairly rational being I have fallen to the allure. I want the white dress, the dream setting the whole American dream wedding that will start my life with my husband to be, despite the large price tag. Who knows, I may even be a "Klienfeld Bride".

The Fastest Way of Losing Weight?

Nowadays, many people consider the slender body as one type of beauty. In consequence, number of people who exercise, eat healthy and less calorie food increases. Often, this trend to have a thin figure brings a side effect of disease called bulimia, or bulimia nervosa. Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by episodes of excessive eating followed by inappropriate methods of weight control, such as self-induced vomiting. Binge eating is accompanied by a feeling of loss of control over eating. People with bulimia often lose their control over eating, and get rid of their stress by excessively over eating. Shortly after, they feel guilt and worry about being fat and they induce vomiting in order to empty their stomach. Sometimes, vomiting releases a powerful rush of endorphins and this keeps people doing vomit after overeating

In a short run, people lose their weight as they empty their stomach. However, in a long run, repeated overeating and vomiting causes a severe physical damage. Continuous regurgitation of gastric juice damages mouth and teeth, and low blood pressure takes place due to malnourishment. The worst case, but most frequent effect of bulimia would be a suicide attempt.

In order to avoid this severe disease, people should not attempt to get rid of their stress by overeating. In addition, it is important to not feel guilty about overeating, and try to control body weight with an appropriate amount of food and steady exercise.

To find out more information about positive reinforcement training, click here.

Should homosexual couples have the same rights to marriage as heterosexual couples? This question has been an ongoing controversial topic for decades. Many opposes of the issue feel that allowing same sex marriage would weaken the definition of marriage and from a religious perspective it is wrong because it's considered a sin. Opposes often assume same sex couples would be unfit parents because they would confuse the child's gender roles and society expectations. Also, it has been heard of for opposes calling homosexuals diseased or perverts because they believe they choose to take on this lifestyle. There are several reasons why same-sex couples should be given the same rights as heterosexual couples.

In actuality, those religious folks who attack this topic due to the Bible calling this a sin are hypocritical. If you were to pull out your common Bible, you could see that although Leviticus (18:22 and 20:13) implied "man shall not lie with man," he also said it was a sin to eat shellfish, to eat pork, to wear mixed fabrics, and for men to have sexual intercourse with their wives within seven days of their menstrual cycle. I think the majority of these religious opposes have done one of these doings at one point in their life. Therefore, they are just as much sinners as any homosexual. This makes the fact that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin an invalid argument against same sex marriage.
The idea that homosexual adults aren't as fit to raise a child as heterosexual adults is a common myth. "Homosexual and heterosexual adults don't differ in their approach to parenting and are equally likely to provide supportive environments for their children (Scott Liienfeld, Steven Lynn, Laura Namy; pg 440). Also, since homosexual couples cannot reproduce they usually turn to adopting children. Gary Gates, a UCLA demographer who studies gays and lesbians analyzed 2000 Census data and estimates that about 250,000 children are being raised by same-sex couples and that 5% of those children, or 12,500, were adopted. Homosexual couples increase the number of children adopted each year by giving them loving homes. Therefore, same sex couples have a positive effect on child adoption.
It has been theorized that homosexuality is genetic. This theory is that girls who are exposed to a large amount of testosterone in the womb develop masculinized brains, and boys exposed to a small amount of testosterone develop feminized brains (Scott Liienfeld, Steven Lynn, Laura Namy; pg. 441). Because this is a theory, it actually hasn't been scientifically proven that homosexuality is genetic. This may not be a fact but there are thousands of reports from gays and lesbians saying they knew what their sexual orientation was from a very young age.
Homosexuality is an openly accepted lifestyle in the world we live in today. Actually, according to http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html a poll was conducted in February 2012 found that 40 percent of respondents supported same-sex marriage, while 23 percent supported civil unions for gay couples. These people realize that a same sex marriage is good as any other and that it has absolutely no effect on anyone else's life. The facts are that denying any same sex couple from marriage is a violation of religious freedom. Denying them marriage is a form of minority discrimination. Finally, the only thing that should truly matter in a marriage is love. Same sex couples deserve the same rights to marriage as heterosexual couples because love is love.

Here's a touching pro same sex marriage commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj09lWcz0yk

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."-Mark Twain

"Lie to Me" was a moderately successful television show on FOX that was canceled last year. The basic idea of the show was that Tim Roth, a psychologist and the main character of the show, was able to aid law enforcement agencies by applying psychology principles in order to ascertain whether or not suspects were telling the truth. While being able to tell whether or not someone is lying definitely makes for an interesting show, are people in real life able to do similar things? The answer, as I found out, is unsurprisingly no. Predictably, most people feel that they are great at detecting lies; however research suggests that most people are only correct about detecting lies 55 percent of the time, with a few people nearing 70 percent accuracy.

What about machines?

Lie detector machines such as polygraph tests are another frequently used method of detecting lies, at least on television. Polygraph tests, though still popular today, have been proven to not be very accurate in determining whether or not someone is lying and as such aren't admissible in most U.S. courts. Other tests that have been met with mixed results include the guilty knowledge test, a test which banks on the idea that criminals harbor concealed knowledge about the crime that innocent people do not. Tests using brain scanning techniques have also been experimented with however different studies have found activations in different regions of the brain during lying.

How do you feel when you see hot girls or boys who are attractive? Do you want to go out with them? You might think like that at first, but as you spend time with her/him, you might change your mind. Human beings are stereotypical animals, who unconsciously judge people by their looking. The first impression, therefore, is essential to give good feeling toward others, when the amount and type of information provided about a target is limited. However, the first impression does not last long enough to show people that the physically attractive people are not that attractive. I consider myself physically attractive (I am half kidding), but when girls spend time with me, they easily get bored.

According to the research by Heilman in 1983, a perceiver makes inferences about attribute, and characteristics of an individual based upon stereotypes, such as sex and attractiveness. Then he/she evaluates the individual on the degree to which these attributes match the perceived requirements of a job. However, people place little or no reliance on stereotypes when information about the target is clearly and unambiguously judgment relevant. For example, a meta-analysis by Tosi and Einbender in 1985 showed that sex bias was greatly reduced when more-job relevant information was provided than less-job relevant information was provided. See more information here

My first impression may be an advantage when interviewing a job (this is just my thought), but I should show my relevant qualities to interviewers.

Eating disorders could be caused by many factors such as physical, psychological, and social issues. Some may argue that media images have had psychological effects on people with their self-esteem which has been one of the causes of eating disorders. Media may not be directly causing eating disorders, but it definitely affects people on how they think of themselves in comparison with the body images they see on the media. Click HERE for more information about media influence on eating disorders.
For example, the show called "The Biggest Loser" describes obese people as "losers" of this society who fail themselves.

When participants of the show lose weights, they are told or described that they are more worthy and attractive. Although the appearance cannot define every aspect of a person, the media tends to account one's appearance as an important quality of a person. This effect of media can be very dangerous as everyone is exposed to the media all the time. Due to the body images portrayed in the media, people could feel the pressure of being "attractive" which really means being thin. This leads people to the extreme such as eating disorders.

Since the media has strong power over people's development of self-esteem and body image, it would be useful to prevent eating disorders as well as other negative psychological effects on people if the media present more diverse of people with more positive messages about self-esteem.

Anorexia and bulimia nervosa ('bulimia') are two disorders that almost everyone knows of, but generally we only think of those disorders as applying to young females, like how knee replacements and colonoscopies apply to older people. But what if I told you that the weight your mother, aunt, or grandmother (or an older male family member of course, but generally is seen in females) is losing isn't just because 'she's aging' or 'that's just the way she is', but rather that she was anorexic or bulimic? Would you believe me?

An article called, "Anorexia and Aging: Is There a Silent Crisis of Eating Disorders in Older Women?", talks a bit more in depth of this issue. While actually data that studies the fluctuation of eating disorders in older adults is not existent, an influx of patients aged 40-60 entering treatment has been seen in the past few years.

We fail to realize that despite our elders are often more wise, experienced, and have come to have a 'greater understanding of the world' type persona, they are equally susceptible to the pressures of society. If you actually stop and think about it, in relation to weight and body image, older adults are more prone to feel that they do not fit society's projected idea of 'beauty' that we see on TV and in magazines because our society's idea of 'beauty' requires youth and a ridiculous body shape (either under weight for women or obnoxiously muscular for men). One thing I often feel I see here in the U.S. (and I see it in myself as well) is that we are so farsighted, we're blind to the very things in front of our eyes. Whether it's fighting so passionately for poverty abroad while being ignorant to the poverty that exists in your city, or being an expert on eating disorders and not realizing a loved one is slowly perishing before your eyes, taking things for granted is an obvious flaw that pertains to the majority of the population.

Detox, or detoxification, diets are one of the popular diet plans these days. There are many different detox diets out there. Some detox diets are hard to follow, and involve drinking unpleasant mixtures. Good news! Not the Lemon Detox Diet! Lemon detox diet consists of fresh water, pure lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and natural maple syrup. The acid in the lemons assists the cleansing process, and the cayenne pepper helps speed up metabolism promoting circulation and a greater release of toxins from our bodies. Lemon detox diet was largely promoted by singer Beyonce, who was quoted as saying, "I lived on water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup for 14 days. It was tough; everyone was eating and I was dying." But, in two weeks she reportedly lost 20 pounds.

Sounds like a good diet plan, huh? But...you better know...

Beyonce regained the weight soon thereafter and in her interviews, she warned dieters away from the Lemon detox diet. According to Diekman, past president of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, weight loss occurs on most of the detox diet plans because they are so low in calories. She said "These fad diet detox plans are nothing more than a quick fix and not recommended for weight loss by registered dietitians." When your calorie intake is dramatically reduced, you will most likely to lose weight. But it may also cause all kinds of health problems, including low energy, low blood sugar and muscle loss. Thus, risks outweigh any benefits, and ultimately, detox diets are not an effective way to lose weight. They are potentially dangerous. For more information on detox diets...Click here.

Today, more than 27 million Americans are taking anti-depressants. From Celexa to Zoloft, anti-depressants are going through the population at higher rates than ever before. However, the body doesn't process and decompose the entire dosage. The medication that isn't processed by the body is excreted. Water and sewage treatment plants aren't designed to remove these chemicals, and inevitably, these chemicals wind up in rivers, springs, and other water bodies.

The result: aquatic ecosystems are becoming filled with anti-depressant medications. Fish require significantly less of the medication to feel the effect. Many different effects are being observed. One result finds that the concentrations of fish near these waste disposal facilities are increasing. Another consequence of this chemical waste effects fish on migratory patterns. Some fish migrate through these chemicals. Most fish become easily dependent upon these medications in a short period of time. Test done on these fish that were then put in cleaner environments found that the fish that were removed from the medication became more depressed than the control group.

To understand whether the fish were demonstrating depressive behavior, fish were offered food for an increment of time, and if the fish hadn't consumed the food during that period, it was removed from the fish tank. Fish that were not exposed to the chemicals ate the food without issue. However, fish that were exposed to the chemical then removed to cleaner water consumed the food at a far less rate. This demonstrates that their has been a change in the neurochemistry during their exposure as well as the effects of withdrawal from these medications.

The effects of anti-depressants on these fish should be exemplary of the effects of anti-depressants on people today. Even if the body chemistry of people develops in such a way to render anti-depressants useless, the withdrawal from the medication makes getting off the medication difficult. In this way, anti-depressants are self-sustaining. The fish model displays why most doctors try to ween their patients off medications.

Source:
http://www.truesnow.org/learn/waste-water-news/8-antidepressants-make-for-sad-fish

Have you ever heard of a little purple berry called Acai? Acai is found mainly in Central and South America and has been all the rage for weight loss supplements within the past few years. There are sites all over the internet allowing for free trials or samples of the pills. It is important to be wary of these sites because free trials often lead to monthly payments for these berry supplements. Also many sites that sell the Acai berry often fail to mention that they are simply extracts or blend of the actual berry and may contain more added chemicals than berry itself. But do the supplements actually help you loose weight in three days as some ads suggest? First off, it is known that Acai berries are very good for the body. They are packed with healthy omega fats, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and fiber. These berries are antioxidants that can play a role in the body's cell protection system and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Although this berry is good for you, it may not affect the body any different from any other fruit. Scientists are gaining knowledge of super foods like the Acai berry, but little research has been found for its adverse effects on weight loss. However, eating a diet rich in antioxidants is generally supported for weight loss. Bottom line is: do plenty of research on suspicious diet claims before beginning a free trial or sample. For more information on the Acai berry and its connection to a healthy diet, visit <Acai Information>

When we think of aggression, we typically associate it with males. I picture in my head guys exhibiting physical violence against other guys. For the most part, this is true if it pertains to physical aggression. Researchers believe that males tend to display physical aggressiveness more than females because males have higher levels of the hormone testosterone. However, the correlation between testosterone and aggression is quite controversial because aggression may cause higher testosterone rather than the other way around. Regardless, research has shown that testosterone has a positive correlation with aggression.

Despite the popular belief that males are more aggressive than females, it has been discovered that girls tend to be higher than boys in relational aggression. Relational aggression is a form of indirect aggression that's displayed by acts of gossiping, social exclusion, and nonverbal putdowns. Girls tend to show their aggression through actions that "stab others in the back." One of the possible reasons for this is because of the cultural acceptance of aggression. Girls receive more negative feedback for physical aggression during their developmental years. This makes indirect aggression more socially acceptable for girls. More information regarding gender differences in aggression can be found here.

I thought it was interesting that the gossipy behavior that girls tend to use is a form of aggression. I suppose in a way that it's their way of displaying their anger and getting back at others rather than fighting physically. Additionally, girls tend to be weaker than guys so they're not as capable of using physical force. I still wonder what factual evidence there is that supports the stance that girls have higher relational aggression. Is it more observational? Nevertheless, it appears that males tend to display physical aggression more and females tend to display relational aggression more.

In a survey from NHANES, in 2012 about 36% of adults and 17% of children are considered obese. This reason, along with the growing need to become a replica of a stick-thin model, has allowed for many "fad diets" to become popular among desperate individuals. Many diets, including the Mediterranean Diet, South Beach Diet and Weight Watchers, insist that you cut down on sweets and limit your intake of carbohydrates, which, in my opinion, are two of the most irresistible types of food. So what if there was a type of diet that only allows you to eat all the pasta and chocolate you wanted? Well, you're in luck.

In the Pasta-Chocolate diet, a typical eating plan for a day is as follows: For breakfast - fresh fruit. Morning snack - popcorn. Lunch - salad (low-calorie dressing only) and spaghetti. Afternoon snack - popcorn. Dinner - fettuccine with garlic tomato sauce and steamed vegetables. And lastly, for an evening snack - popcorn and up to 1 oz of chocolate.

But what they fail to mention is all the food that needs to be avoided in order for this fad diet to be effective. Some of these off-limit foods include: salt, sugars, fried foods, dairy products, red meats, nuts, soda, caffeine, and chips. And after taking into account that this diet also entails an unhealthy daily caloric intake (under 1200 calories), it is clear that this Pasta-Chocolate diet is unfortunately too good to be true.

Extreme dieting in general can lead to many health risks, such as depression, fatigue, malnutrition, and dehydration. This is why it is necessary to consult your physician if you are need of a serious weight plan. Extreme dieting is detrimental and rarely works to keep the pounds off for an extended period of time. These fad diets like the Pasta-Chocolate diet is never an option that should be considered when wanting to lose weight. The negative aspects far outweigh the positive ones.

Twilight seems to be the most popular star-crossed lover story since Romeo and Juliet. For those of you who haven't seen it or read the books, here's a link to the trailer. It's basically about how a human girl named Bella and a vampire boy named Edward who fall in love. Even though it might seem absurd for two people of a different species to fall in love, it actually makes a lot of sense when you look at their relationship regarding the three major principles.

The first principle, proximity, is the physical nearness the two people are to each other in life. When Bella moves to Forks, Washington, she ends up living in the same town and going to the same high school as Edward. She first sees him in their school cafeteria. A lot of the beginning of their relationship takes place in their biology classroom where they share a lab table.

The second principle, similarity, is the extent to which two people have things in common with each other. Now, being that she's a human and he's a vampire, you wouldn't think they'd have a whole lot in common. But you'd be wrong. They're both very mature for their age (even though he's technically way older than 17). They are both quite intelligent and do well in school. Their families play important roles in both of their lives. Also, both Bella and Edward are physically attractive.

The last principle, reciprocity, is the rule of give and take. Even though both Edward and Bella know they are in love with the other, neither one wants to be the one to say it first because they aren't sure how they other person feels about them. It's only when they both admit to their feelings can their relationship really begin to grow. Throughout the series, each of them has to make sacrifices for them to be together, it's not just one of them that is doing all the giving or all of the taking.

In today's society, the issue of gay marriage is a controversial topic. Psychological studies, however, have shown that homosexuality is often determined by many factors, including biological ones, such as hormonal imbalances in the womb and differences in brain functions. Studies have shown that sexual hormones in the womb, called androgens, affect the tendency of individuals to lean one way or another sexually. Girls who are exposed to a greater than normal amount of testosterone in the womb are more likely to be more masculine, and boys vice-versa. This ties in nicely with the study and theories of Daryl Bem, who suggested the exotic becomes erotic theory of sexuality. Bem's theory proposed that feminine boys and masculine girls form friendships with the opposite gender, and, as a result, their gender becomes exotic to them. This exotic fascination with the same gender then results in a greater tendency towards homosexuality. Another important factor in sexual orientation is a person's genetics. Simon LeVay proposed a theory that the size of the hypothalamus in homosexuals is larger than that of heterosexuals. This was further backed by a study done where persons of either sexuality were exposed to pheromones distinct to the male and female sex. The study showed that the brains of homosexual men responded to the male pheromones in similar ways to the brains of heterosexual females. This indicates that the hypothalamus plays a significant role in determining the sexuality of an individual. Since the hypothalamus is inherited genetically, this points to a genetic cause of sexuality.

Many girls choose to be a manager for the football team, baseball team, etc. In high school I chose to be the manager for the wrestling team. I never realized how much some fellas focus on their weight until I met these fellas. They were skipping meals, not drinking any liquids, etc. to try to keep their weight down before "weigh in" prior to a match. On top of not eating they had "4 lb. practices" or even "6 lb. practices," meaning they planned on losing at least 4-6 pounds in the two hour time limit they had.
It was horrifying knowing what they were doing to their bodies.
In my mind they were suffering from anorexia nervosa and some even suffered from bulima nervosa. Yet, as my best friend explained to me, these boys draw an even "finer line" between training and eating disorder, as did their parents. When a boy crossed that line the coaches and his parents worked together to help treat his disorder by seeking professional help, raising him a weight class, and keeping a close eye on him. Sadly, when I began managing many of the boys had kept the habits outside of the wrestling season. By the middle of my junior year the coaches worked with the captains to make it a team effort to face these issues head on. A lot of people believe that men aren't as susceptible as women are to eating disorders. However, as the National Eating Disorder Association states, some disorders are just as common in men as they are in women.

Twilight--a movie and book series that everyone knows about, but not everyone likes. It is a love story between a human, Bella and a vampire, Edward. According to Ellen Berscheid there are three major principles in attraction and relationship formation. The relationship between Edward and Bella worked well because of proximity. They never left each others side, thus having a huge success in their love story because of proximity. Everywhere Bella went, Edward would follow. He thought he was being "protective" but really it was because of the strong chemistry he felt toward Bella and had to be close to her. The relationship also had a lot of reciprocity between the two. Bella and Edward equally gave and take from the relationship to fuel their love, even though Bella, annoyingly, always made a point to suggest that Edward gave so much more to her and that she could never give him enough. When it came to similarity, however, the two should have crashed and burned. They had something extremely different between each other at first--Edward being a vampire and Bella being human. Although because Bella constantly asked Edward to change her and because she really had no personality, like Edward, they were more closely matched than I had originally thought. All in all, Edward and Bella, however annoying their relationship had been, was bound for success because they had met the three principles of a relationship to a T.

Since I was young I have always been curious about sex and gender. I would ask "why do I have to sit on the toilet, it's gross?" or "why are those two people kissing?" I was raised to believe that you were either man or woman and that only men and women can kiss. Now that I am older my eyes have been opened to other things.
Anne Fausto-Sterling, Professor of Biology and Women's Studies at Brown University, hypothesizes that the world needs to have more than one classification of sex. In the article The Five sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough Anne argues that there should be a minimum of five sexes. The human body is too complex to ask that both sex chromosomes fit into either type A or type B.
For a long time genetics has a way of changing things around by not creating people with just two X chromosome or the male XY chromosomes. There is now something called intersex, which changes our world's classification of male and female. Without everyday knowledge of people who are intersex our world does not support them. It is a simple as the restrictions on using a public restroom or locker room, checking a box when applying for a dorm room, or decided what sports team to try out for.
My point to bringing up this topic is the mainly the Universities application for housing. I want to touch on this subject because many people in this class have had to fill out this form and know what I am talking about. Imagine the difficulty of someone who is intersex when they have to choose housing. Are they male or female? Do they want a single or double dorm? Does their dorm have private bathrooms? The list of questions goes on and on.
I am hoping this blog will cause people to think twice when they are having an easy time walking in and out of the restroom. That this is something that should be addressed because the rest of the world is not the same as you or me and sometimes people truly are born differently.

Most people would agree that beauty is a fairly subjective thing. Everyone has different ideas about what is beautiful and find different things attractive. There are also differences between cultures on what is generally considered beautiful. This article discusses some of the more radical differences in beauty ideals around the world. A few examples include the elongation of women's necks with brass rings in the Kayan tribe or the preference for chin and lip tattoos in Polynesia. These may seem strange and even ugly to a Westerner but many of the things we consider normal and attractive would be unusual to them. We get plastic surgery to change how our body looks and wear braces for years to have straight teeth. Neither is right or better, it's like they say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
There are some things that appear to be considered beautiful around the world though. They seem to mainly apply to women and this makes sense because as we learned men care more about beauty than women do. Another article talks about things like youth, clear skin, and symmetry that men find attractive across all cultures. This suggests that there are some universal beauty standards.

Do you ever wonder how your life would change if you could not remember your childhood, or if you can't form new memories? Well if you had amnesia, those possibilities might become a reality. There are different types of amnesia. The two most common types are retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is where you lose part of your memories of your past. The amount of memories you lose is different in each circumstance. Retrograde amnesia is often caused by an injury or by the onset of a disease. Anterograde amnesia is the loss of the ability to create new memories. Damage to the hippocampus is a common cause of both retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia. Alcohol intoxication can cause anterograde amnesia, usually known as a blackout. Rapid rises in blood alcohol concentration over a short period of time can block the brain's ability to transfer short-term memories during intoxication. Studies have showed that drinking slowly decreases the chance of experiencing amnesia. During college, many students make the mistake of drinking more than their bodies can take, which often results into a blackout. According to education-portal.com fifty four percent of binge drinking college students black out and forget what they did or where they were at some point in the year. Another example of amnesia is the movie "50 First Dates" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErjP5xMTc8I). In the movie, Adam Sandler falls in love with a girl with anterograde amnesia. The girl he falls in love with believes it is the same exact day every day she wakes up. All her memories are forgotten when she falls asleep. So eventually, Adam Sandler makes a tape of all their experiences together and eventually makes her fall in love with him every day even though she feels like she just met him today. Korsakoff's syndrome can also cause anterograde amnesia. Korsakoff's syndrome is a neurological disorder caused by the lack of thiamine in the brain which causes you to have apathy, delusions that form invented memories, and anterograde amnesia. I feel that amnesia is a dreadful disability that can ruin the life of a person. Forgetting your past can not only hurt yourself, but also your family. The trauma amnesia can bring towards your family can be devastating. Imagine developing retrograde amnesia and forgetting the names of your kids. There are some questions I still have about amnesia. I wonder if different forms of amnesia are easier to recover from. I also want to know if having both retrograde and anterograde amnesia would be possible. Living without a present and a without a past would be horrifying. Living would be pointless if you had both retrograde and anterograde amnesia. Overall, I feel that amnesia is a devastating disorder that can drastically alters a person's life

Could the fundamental difference between Eastern and Western thinking be why Third World countries are experiencing sharp upswings in business? As seen in our text, Eastern raised citizens have a tendency to focus on surroundings and the bigger picture of things. The comparison between Western and Eastern citizens and their attention to detail in the tiger image in our text outlines the crucial difference in these two cultures. Managerial positions often require bigger picture views and long term thinking, which would relate to Eastern holistic views outlined in the text. This article outlines the importance of bigger picture thinking in the business place. Concerned about staying on the cutting edge of the business world? A change in mind may be needed! In addition, research has shown that simply keeping in mind bigger picture thinking can lead to thought out decisions. Can't think of some ways to increase holistic thinking? Check this site out and keep it in mind!

We all know the feeling of being full. Especially when one overeats, their stomach hurts and they feel lethargic--as if the body is mad at how much we ate. Even in times when we don't eat, we generally have a sense of when we have gotten enough food. This feeling of satisfaction of hunger is an important body signal we wouldn't want to miss. This message is brought to you by a proud sponsor of the body, the "hunger hormone", leptin! The hormone "leptin" plays an important biological role in signaling to our hypothalamus and brain stem when to reduce appetite and increase energy use.
Most people who are obese tend to become more resistant to these leptin signals. In further researching the importance of leptin, a study was noted on leptin's role in weight loss published in an article by ABC News last summer.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125877&page=1

Everyone has leptin. Well, almost everyone at least. Today there are only three known people who genetically lack the hormone. Bayrum Donsek, Elif Fakili, and Zeynep Fakili are three cousins from Turkey who by genetic mutation lack the hormone leptin; thus, they never experience feeling full, and have eaten themselves to very high weights. These three individuals went to UCLA to participate in a study where the subjects, being completely deficient of leptin, were injected with the hormone. Without even being told to eat less or exercise, the results proved to be incredibly significant, and all three lost a significant amount of weight.

As you can see, the hormones of our body are crucial, and are important messengers to keep us in homeostasis for maximum functioning! We can't go on well without them!!!

Little Alchemy is a unique game that challenges the player's reasoning and processing. In the game, the player starts with the basic elements of fire, water, earth, and air. From here, he or she combines these elements to form newer types of elements. For example, when the user combines water and fire, the resulting element is steam.

Given the first few elements, the user can mentally combine each of the elements to figure out newer elements. When a user is given the elements of earth and water, he or she can utilize bottom-up processing to infer that the result is mud. By synthesizing the elements that the player already has, new element combinations can be inferred.

However, this isn't the only way to consider the game. Another way to find the newer elements is to consider the elements that the game might include. Thus, the player could inductively reason different types of elements that the game might have. If the user wanted to figure out whether the game had elements like clouds or mountains, he or she would then use top-down processing to consider how to develop these elements from the available material or any theoretical transitional elements that might be needed to construct these elements.

Thereafter, the player will try to reach their goal, and once all reasonable combinations that might yield the right product are exhausted, the user can deductively reason that the element hasn't been included into the game.

This game illustrates problem solving strategies. The game challenges the user to create a network of interconnected elements, figure out how to create complex elements, and try to create goals that may be unattainable. Both inductive and deductive reasoning must be applied to find new elements and overcome getting stumped. The player can either figure out new elements from existing elements or start from a highly complex element and move backward to figure out what might be missing. These types of processing and reasoning are used in everything from car repair to population modeling, and this game combines a little fun with a little thought and a little frustration.

http://littlealchemy.com/

Eating disorder is big issue in my country, South Korea. Many young students try to be slim because all of celebrities in TV are really slim and look good. One of my friends has an eating disorder. Whenever she eats food, she vomits everything what she ate. Even though nobody says she is fat, she always has a pressure by herself that she has to keep her body slim like a movie star. Her parents have worried her and visited to a hospital with her regularly to treat her. Now, she gets treatment for her eating disorder from the hospital and getting better. According to the research from the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, eating disorder especially, anorexia nervosa (AN) causes high death rate. The interesting discovery is that death rates for depression and schizophrenia are lower than for AN. Of course, the authors admit that there are other factors which related to the increasing death rate. Furthermore, the researchers found that the patients who get AN when they were in 20s have more higher death rates than who get AN when they were in 30s.
To get more information, click HERE.

Studies suggest that the college students tell an average of two lies per day. We all lie. This is the reason that there is such a large emphasis on lie detection. There are many different lie detection techniques: nonverbal behaviors, polygraph tests, guilty knowledge tests (GKT), brain fingerprinting, fMRI methods. Of all of these techniques, the polygraph test is one of the most popular. Ever since its creation in 1915, it has been used to detect lies and convict criminals. The polygraph test rests on the assumption of the Pinocchio response, which is defined as a perfect physiological or behavioral indicator of lying. Although the largest organization of polygraph examiners claims that the test is 98% accurate, the polygraph test produces a high rate of false positives. This means that there are many innocent individuals whom the test labels incorrectly, and some have estimated this rate to be 40% or more of individuals tested.

With such a high rate of failures, I wonder whether scientists and researchers will continue to place such high importance on the polygraph test alone. Because this test is based on the Pinocchio response, there have been many guilty people who have used countermeasures to pass, such as biting their tongue or curling their toes. There is an evident flaw in the polygraph test. Although very unlikely because people are so deceptive, I hope that we see a test created in the near future that is 100% accurate. To learn more about the history of the polygraph test, click here.

Polygraphs, or lie detectors, are frequent shown on TV as an accurate way of detecting lies. So what's the truth? According to the research polygraphs have a high false positive rate, meaning that the test isn't measuring a person's lie rather the anxiety of potentially being convicted of a crime that they may or may not have committed. Polygraph test also have a high rate of being able to "fool" through simple techniques that are designed to throw off the baseline readings. Those with emotional disturbances, whom don't feel a strong sense of guilt, are also quite easily able fool the polygraph and "pass the test". Other methods such as Guilt Knowledge Test and fMRI imaging, which have proven to produce less false positives than polygraphs are only effective if the person that committed the crime remembers minute details of the crime scene. So this leads to an interesting question. Do lie detectors continue to be effective in modern day because people are not aware of how inaccurate they really are? In fact due to these significant flaws in the tests, lie detector tests are only admissible in court on a state-by-state basis. Though many states are in the process of changing the admissibility in courts. As a result there are many appeals that are trying to get the polygraph evidence thrown out.

Click here for more information on polygraphs: American Polygraph Association

Thinking about children's attitudes towards life can be a touchy subject for some people because it is all stemmed back to which parenting style was used with them. Although that is not the first explanation that comes to mind about a devious child, that is usually a good explanation why they are the way they are. A common argument might be is it's the child's fault that they don't listen to punishment and rebel from parents but according to Diana Baumrind's work on the major parenting styles it is due to how the parents raise their children. It would be useful for a parent raising children to know how each of the three affects the child's attitude. According to an online article, http://www.parentingscience.com/parenting-styles.html, the outcomes that go along with these parenting styles are: 1. Authoritative has a firm set of rules but very forgiving punishments that create well behaved children that tend to be emotionally happy and capable of thinking on their own to make good decisions. 2. Authoritarian is very strict with rules and punishments. Their children tend to be relatively well behaved, possess inferior social skills and suffer from depression and anxiety. 3. Permissive is very laid back with rules and punishments. Their children tend to have higher self-esteem and lower depression and anxiety. They also are more likely to become involved with drugs and perform poorly in school.
Parents should be aware of the general outcomes of children due to their parenting techniques because they will help the child, themselves and everyone involved with the child's lives easier. They should know what happens generally with each type of parenting and should plan accordingly.

For this blog entry, I decided to look into research on lie detection, more specifically, the polygraph or "lie detector" test. I'm sure that we have all seen movies or TV shows where someone is put under a "lie detector" to find out whether or not they are telling the truth about something. For myself, I never have believed that those tests are truly accurate, and I was interested to see that in our text they argue that lie detectors are "biased against the innocent." They go on to explain that these tests should really be called "arousal detectors" because many people show arousal when they are asked certain questions for reasons other than the fact that they know they are lying. The current model of this machine bases its assumptions on the Pinocchio Response, or that behavior indicates lying just like Pinocchio's nose that got longer, subjects are said to display body reactions that give them away. This seemed very interesting because I couldn't imagine how there could be a machine that can actually test whether or not someone is telling the truth.

I would like to know what kind of further research is being done on a similar model for detecting whether or not someone is telling the truth. Maybe thing's will become more advanced and researchers will find a way to make the current models more accurate. Let me know what you all think about this subject, whether you believe it or think it's a big phony. Also, for more information on this machine you can look into this website

http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/forensic_2.htm

To most people, the most absolute way to convict a criminal is by catching them in a lie with use of a Polygraph test or in more common terms a lie detector. They always seem to be one of the most useful tactics in getting the perpetrators into jail. You can find them on criminal television shows such as CSI, court cases, and even Dr. Phil. But what if these lie detectors were proven to be faulty? Leading psychologists examined further information of the test and found the results to be quite alarming.

When measuring a persons emotions and bodily functions with these tests people believe that if one's blood pressure, respiration, or skin conductance changes that they must be lying and therefore guilty. The test consists of different questions, and the fluctuations of a person's autonomic activity determines the fate of person. However, it turns out that these tests are not measuring lies they are measuring arousal! How can it be that one is automatically sentenced guilty if they simply get aroused? Polygraph tests are biased against the innocent, and falsely convict more innocent people than not. Henceforth, the only way that the polygraph can produce a true and useful sentence is if the person confesses to their crime after failing the lie detector test. Seems as though our lies really can deceive almost everyone--including machines!

To find out more about polygraphs

Harry Harlow set up one of the nation's best-equipped primate laboratories at the University of Wisconsin. His famous study focused on contact comfort in babyhood. He did an experiment with a rhesus monkey to see which would be more powerful, contact comfort or food.

In this experiment, he separated the baby monkeys from their mothers only a few hours after birth. He provided the babies with a choice between two fake mothers, one made out of uncomfortable wire but with nourishment, a bottle of milk, and the other with a layer of comfortable terry cloth.

Harlow found that baby monkeys preferred the terrycloth mother, spending as little time as possible on the wire frame mother. This overturned the previous assumptions that the primary basis for the attachment bond is the nourishment supplied by mothers. This study showed that contact comfort was more important than food, except when the baby monkey was actually eating. And when Harlow exposed monkeys to a scary stimulus, like a toy robot playing a drum, they were more likely to run to the terry cloth mother and cling to her for reassurance.

I found this study interesting because it seemed to prove a large phenomenon without any questioning. Since Harlow did not use real Rhesus monkey mothers in his experiment, one could potentially also conclude that a soft and cuddly mannequin would suffice just as well for a human baby as its mother. It seems like another study could be done with alive monkey mothers to prove this contact comfort theory further...